


Trinity

by KLCtheBookWorm



Series: Signs and Portents [6]
Category: Dark Knight Rises (2012), Man of Steel (2013)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-05 12:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5375339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KLCtheBookWorm/pseuds/KLCtheBookWorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is set after <i>the Dark Knight Rises</i>, <i>Man of Steel</i>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/892557"><i>Signs and Portents: Meanwhile in Gotham City</i></a> and <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/865982"><i>Signs and Portents: Forgiveness is for the Living</i></a>.  And it's dedicated to everyone who watched the <i>Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice</i> trailer and exclaimed "Why are my heroes fighting each other?" Oh and Abelard, I hope you like the Steve Trevor that made it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

  


## Part One

### September 1, 2013

The three F-15s screeched through the sky towards the billowing, black mass. It reminded Steve of the 2010 Iceland volcano eruption. The lightning flickering in the enlarging red and black clouds didn't help the impression. "Keep an eye out for the alien entity designated as Superman. He doesn't have a transponder," Steve said to his subordinate pilots. Command listened to every word as well.

Igloo snorted. "Who gave him that call sign?"

"Copy that, Zipper," Flybot answered.

"Ready to engage," Steve said. "Entering the smoke screen." The clouds didn't hide General Zod's weapon from their radar. It loomed over the ocean on tripod legs. Their projected flight path took them over its domed top in bombing position. Lightning flashed around the jets. They soon broke through the clouds to see the black, insect-like machine. Blue energy pulsed from the bottom of the sphere-like body on top the legs. Water rose up in a halo around the weapon before smashing on the rocks growing around its feet. It repeated that process with every pulse. Smoke billowed from the flames churning on top the body and joined the rising clouds. The flames looked like glowing eyes from their vantage point.

Flybot's voice sounded strained. "Beginning visual reconnaissance." He broke out of formation to shoot it with the cameras.

"Engage the enemy, Flight 219," Command ordered over their headsets.

"Roger that," Steve replied. "Thunder One Fox Two." He fired the Sidewinder at the gravity weapon. The missile rounded toward the body. A panel on its side slid open like an eyelid. The black substance inside swelled out before narrowing into tentacles. "Igloo, Flybot, do you see that?"

"Don't know what the hell that thing is, but we're getting footage of it," Flybot said.

Three tentacles slithered out of the black and whipped around the gravity weapon. One hit the Sidewinder and detonated the missile, shattering it. The metal reformed and speared toward their jets. "The gravity weapon has a tentacle defense system," Igloo said.

"Evasive maneuvers," Steve banked his jet as he barked out the order. Igloo moved away, but the tentacles only followed the jet that had fired the missile. Steve swooped up. His HUD sounded proximity alarms.

"Fire on the defense mechanism," Command ordered.

Steve was in no position to shoot as he looped to keep the tentacles from hitting his jet. Igloo's voice cut through the cockpit alarms. "Thunder Two Fox Two."

The second Sidewinder hit the tentacles where they merged together, but yards away from the gravity weapon. The black appendages shattered, but the shards flowed together like water. "What the hell? A direct hit had no effect; the fragments reformed!" Igloo yelled across the comm.

Steve flattened out of his loop and glared at the tentacles' connection with the gravity weapon. "Thunder One Fox Two." The Sidewinder twisted between the tentacles. Steve held his breath. The explosion didn't rock the gravity weapon and the tentacles reformed. "Direct hits with Fox Twos are not damaging the damned thing."

His HUD screamed a warning. Steve rolled his jet, but the closest tentacle sprouted a three fingered hand that wrapped around his rear fuselage. It yanked him closer to the gravity weapon like a fishing line reeling in a catch.

"Zipper!" Flybot yelled.

"Fall back!" Steve yelled back. The second tentacle tightened around the jet behind his canopy. He pressed the eject button, but it malfunctioned. "I'm jammed; don't you two get caught. Fall back!" The tentacles spun him around, but the HUD showed Igloo and Flybot's transponders moving. "Command, conventional weapons haven't made a dent. Take that under advisement for the next battle strategy."

"Eject, Captain Trevor. We'll get the Australian Coast Guard to--"

"Negative, I can't eject." The tentacle crushed something and the HUD wailed. "Hopefully Superman will give me a lift when he gets here." It was a faint hope, so faint to be a sarcastic quip instead. He doubted Command even heard it with all the alarms. His jet was turned toward the gravity weapon again. _Go down swinging every time._ "Get off our planet!" He fired the machine gun controls.

The bullets had no effect, but it felt good to let them rip. Luckily, the booted feet that landed on the jet's nose descended out of the line of fire. Extremely lucky, because the feet were connected to the best bare legs he had ever seen in person. And it would be criminal to hurt them or the hips wrapped in a shredded blue leather skirt or the breasts cupped by the red leather bustier. The gold symbol covering them was shaped into a bird not the stylized S his superiors said Superman wore. "So not Superman," he said to whoever manned the comm, if they heard his awed whisper amid all the alarms.

The third tentacle pulled back to swipe. Steve pointed to it, but the black-haired woman was already moving. Lightning crackled along the sword as she sliced the tentacle like an angel chopping off a serpentine demon's head. 

It recoiled from the swordswoman instead of reforming like it had with the Sidewinder explosions. The other two tentacles wrapped around his jet let go and pulled back with the third to the inside of the water halo. New alarms sounded along with the HUD showing how he was unable to fly his jet and it was falling. He hit the eject button. The canopy refused to open.

The angel straddled the nose. He wished they had time for introductions. Too bad they would drop into the space that was affected by the gravity weapon and a pulse would send them down to the new rocks faster than regular gravity. He waved goodbye to her. She could fly out of this mess even if she didn't have wings.

She frowned and grasped the edge of the cockpit canopy with both hands. The metal bent and the polycarbonate cracked as she forced it up. She floated free as she continued pushing it back. Steve unbuckled his seat restraints and stood. She picked him up under his arms. He didn't mind being carried like a toddler when she zoomed away from the jet and the gravity weapon. He grabbed her shoulders. Actually, he was okay with dying because being carried off to Heaven rubbing up against a statuesque angel was the best way to go. If he kept up that train of thought, they might not let him in.

The angel coughed and gagged when they entered the smokescreen. Should he give her his air mask? They dropped in altitude, so he let go with one hand to unlatch it. She shifted the flight path and shot out of the black clouds, gulping down clean air once they were free. She adjusted her grip on him and he grabbed her shoulder again.

All he saw was her face and blue sky filtered through her wavy black hair. But what a face; who needed a view of where they were going? Her eyes were as blue as tropical water. Poetry could be written about her cheekbones. Too bad his word skills didn't go past 'roses are red, violets are blue.'

She pulled them upright and he looked down past her arm. A salvage ship with its aft crane as tall as the radio tower on top of its pilot house grew bigger under their feet. His knees buckled when she set him on the steel deck thanks to the boat's rolling motion, but she held him until he steadied. Her attention was grabbed by something behind him he couldn't hear. He unlatched his air mask and yanked off his helmet to hear her explain. "The machine was crushing his plane. That and it is absolutely foul in there."

A gravely male voice answered her. "So you're not immune to alien environments." A gloved hand gripped Steve's shoulder. "Do you need a medic, airman?"

Steve faced the voice and his jaw dropped when he saw the black cowl over the head. It was hard like a helmet; he hadn't expected that. "Holy shit, you're Batman."

The corner of the visible mouth quirked up slightly. "I am."

Steve turned back to his angel. Batman was last seen fighting the mercenaries that attacked Gotham City with Catwoman and this woman was not wearing black. "You must be Wonder Woman."

She winced. "The news people call me that. I am Princess Diana of Themyscira." Oh yeah, the gold band with a ruby star she wore was a tiara.

"Captain Steven Trevor, United States Air Force. Thank you for the rescue." 

"What were you doing?" Batman asked. "The military has to know that conventional weapons don't work against the invaders after what happened in Kansas."

"I wasn't briefed on what happened in Kansas. We went in for reconnaissance and to assist Superman."

"Superman?" the princess asked.

"The alien who surrendered to General Zod; he's supposed to stop the gravity weapon while the rest of the attack force concentrates on the ship over Metropolis." Steve glared at the black cloud mass. "We went in hot and found out it has tentacles that don't blow up."

Princess Diana smiled wickedly. "They didn't like the taste of my steel."

He turned to Batman. "Can you update a Sidewinder with her steel? Because they shrugged them off and kept coming."

An explosion echoed over the water. Batman took a pair of high-tech binoculars off his bronze-colored belt and focused on the gravity weapon. "I don't think you have to worry about weapon upgrades now."

"Kal-El destroyed it?" Princess Diana laid a hand on the railing as her feet rose off the deck. "I will intercept him."

"He's already gone." Batman lowered the binoculars. "He flies faster than you."

She harrumphed under her breath before saying, "Undoubtedly, he is on his way to Metropolis. Do we make our way there now?"

"By the time we secure the invaders' hardware, the fight will be over." Batman returned the binoculars to his belt. "I'll tell the ship's Captain it's safe to salvage now."

"Wait, you want to take custody of the gravity weapon?" Steve asked.

The look over Batman's shoulder withered all glares Steve had ever received from any superior officer.

"We cannot let the invaders repair it," the princess said.

"You have an issue with that, Captain?" Batman asked.

Steve stood at attention thanks to that glower. "My commanders would have an issue with you taking a world destroying weapon, so I have to formally protest that you should turn it over to the United States government." He took a deep breath. "Me personally, all the governments have enough world destroying weapons. The last thing we need is an arms race based on extra-terrestrial tech. And the United States government and military did jack-shit to save Gotham. I trust you."

"We don't want to get you in trouble with your commanding officers, so protest noted," Batman said. "Where are you stationed?"

"Kadena Air Base on Okinawa."

"Better get him back there before someone puts him on a missing in action list, Diana."

"I know where Okinawa is." She scooped Steve up, bridal style. "Won't take long at all, Batman."

"Wait a minute!" They were airborne before Steve finished saying the words. "You don't have to take me all the way to Okinawa. We refueled at RAAF Base Pearce outside of Perth. Australia's a lot closer."

"Will that increase your troubles with your commanding officers?" Her forehead wrinkled like she didn't care for that idea.

"Emergency situation. The other two jets in my flight probably already landed there." She nodded and changed course. He remembered how she was holding him and blurted out, "You're pretty strong for a girl."

"No, I'm just pretty strong." She frowned.

He hated her frown and had to get it off her face. "I didn't mean to offend."

She smirked. "That doesn't mean you didn't."

"And that's why I'm not in the diplomatic corps. The wrong thing always comes out of my mouth."

"My people have a saying. Don't kill if you can wound, don't wound if you can subdue, don't subdue if you can pacify, and don't raise your hand at all until you've first extended it. All you need is more practice."

Steve thought about what to say next so she didn't dump his ass in the ocean. "That's a good philosophy, but how does it work with the current situation?"

Her nostrils flared. "Your government met a superior force's terms; that is pacifying. The invaders continued their attacks on Earth. Now we must subdue them and keep the innocents safe."

"We're on the same page with that. Not that I know how we're going to hit them so it hurts. Unless we can go to your people and get more swords."

She shook her head. "My sword is unique."

"And your people are probably too far away to help," he sighed.

"No, my people are the Amazons of Themyscira, an island hidden by magic in the Mediterranean Sea."

Steve had read Greek mythology when he was a kid. "The ladies who cut off one of their boobs to shoot better?" He was glad she hadn't followed the custom.

"That was deceitful propaganda written by our foremothers' enemies. We Amazons never did that. It doesn't improve archery."

He loved her indignant tone. It lacked the heat that had been in her voice over the current situation, but still passionate. "I always thought it made the Amazons badass. The Spartans were too chicken to cut off body parts. And you are definitely badass, Princess, even the tentacles realized that."

Her olive-tinted cheeks reddened. "Call me Diana."

"As long as you call me Steve." The land on the horizon grew larger as the bright sun shone. It was hard to believe that there was an alien invasion on the other side of the planet. Because of that, he couldn't drag this flight out and gave her directions to the air base. He recognized the other two U.S. F-15s being refueled on the ground. "Good, my men got away from the gravity weapon."

"Hopefully, Metropolis fares as well." Diana lowered her feet to the ground before setting him on his. The ground crews and pilots ran toward them. "Be careful if they send you out again, Steve."

"Wait a minute." He scrambled through his pockets. "If the world doesn't end today," he found a pen and a crumpled receipt, "I'd like to talk to you again, maybe do something fun. Unless," oh man it just occurred to him, "you and Batman…."

She shook her head. "No, we are allies, friends. He is in a committed relationship with someone else."

"Good, that's good. So if the world doesn't end today--"

"Do you like movies?" she asked.

"Movies, popcorn, sodas, fan of the whole experience." He wrote his personal cell phone number on the back of the receipt.

She took the slip of paper from him. "I will call you and we will go see a movie."

He nodded before he said something that would ruin his chance forever. "Be careful against them, Diana."

She nodded with a radiant smile before shooting off the ground. Steve ignored the shouts and press of the men that surrounded him as he watched the red and blue streak across the blue and white sky.

* * *

Lois, breathless from their kiss, watched Clark float over to Zod. The General knelt on the other side of the pulverized circle. Perry, Jenny, and Lombard climbed over the pile of rubble behind her, and she spared them a glance before focusing on Zod and Clark again.

"My soul, that is what you have taken from me!" Zod shouted. The bulkier Kryptonian lunged and slammed a shoulder into Clark's chest. Clark tumbled back before bouncing against the ground and skidding to a stop against the rubble.

Lois stopped herself from dashing forward thanks to her long practice of being the observer, the one who told the truth after the event was done.

Zod strode towards Clark and continued to bellow. "I'm going to make them suffer, Kal, these humans you adopted. I will take them all from you, one by one."

Clark pushed up into the air instead of flexing his muscles. "You are a monster, Zod. And I'm gonna stop you." The two forces charged each other: Zod running hard enough to dent the powdery rubble and asphalt underneath and Clark flying with his arms straight in front of him. Their impact cratered the ground and then Lois saw Clark's red cape fly into the corner of a ruined building on the clearing's perimeter. Zod leaped after him. 

Lois's eyes tracked the fight through the skyscrapers along with everyone still able to watch. The sun was setting and functional automatic lights flickered on. The sides of the buildings cratered as the opponents slammed against or through them. Zod appeared again now flying. He grabbed the end of Clark's cape and spun him around. Clark shot through multiple buildings. She held her breath as the pair climbed higher into the sky. Debris on fire from atmospheric friction rained down on the city. Clark and Zod must be among that debris.

She sprinted after them until Perry White's voice lassoed around her. "Lois! Where are you going?"

"After the story!" she yelled back. The falling debris led straight to the Union Station, a historical train station that rented out its massive space for events. Dodging stunned survivors and frozen traffic was harder, but she never let anything stop her from getting the story. Her feet moved faster since this story involved the man who saved her life three times, offered her freedom from the government by surrendering his, and kissed her. She pushed her way through the screaming people leaving the building. Halfway down the marble steps she stopped. 

Clark had an arm around the kneeling general's neck. She heard Zod. "If you love these people so much, you can mourn for them!" Two streams of red fire gouged the floor and hit the wall next to a family. The father grabbed his son and shoved the boy closer to the younger girl and the woman, but the group had nowhere to run thanks to the debris on their right. The marble wall cracked and tiles exploded as Zod's eye beams inched closer.

"Don't do this! Stop! Don't!" Clark screamed.

Lois couldn't hear Zod's response over the family's screams, but she saw his lips snarl something. Clark closed his eyes. He shifted his hand to Zod's chin as he stood them. His hands forced Zod's head to the side much farther than any neck should turn. His arms splayed out and Zod dropped to the floor, the red light dying in his eyes. Clark panted as he stared at the older Kryptonian. Then he fell to his knees next to Zod's feet before bellowing "No!" Lois ran while it echoed through the cavernous space.

Clark didn't look up until she was three steps away from him. The lost expression on his face asked her for something he couldn't articulate. She rushed forward and cradled his head against her stomach. His arms wrapped around her hips without pressure. She hugged him closer, combed her fingers through his black hair, and refused to let any tears fall.

"I hear them screaming." Clark's voice was thick and hoarse.

Lois glanced around Union Station. The family that had been threatened had bolted. "No one's here."

"Outside, they're outside."

She raked his scalp and hoped it offered him comfort. "What can you do?" _Dumb question, Lane._ "What do you want to do?"

"No more death." Clark's muscles in his arms bulged, but his grasp on her didn't change. "I can't let anyone else die."

"Okay, let's go." But she didn't force him to move.

"They won't let me help, not after this. No one will trust me."

She took a deep breath. "They will when I tell them to." Clark jerked his head back to see her. "I'm not leaving you again," she whispered.

His lost look melted into gratitude before his jaw solidified. He scooped her up and they floated up through the broken glass and twisted rafters surrounding the hole in the glass roof. She kept her arms wrapped around his neck. They hovered above Union Station until he focused on something he could hear and she couldn't. Then they shot forward to the burning corner of a skyscraper.

Clark blew icy breath on the fire. The cold and carbon dioxide put out the flames. Now she noticed that this corner held the fire stairs and a big chunk of them were missing. He set her on the upper stairs. "There are people in the hallway."

"How?"

"X-ray vision. That's how I cauterized your internal bleeding."

She nodded and put off any more questions about his abilities. She wrenched opened the fire door. People huddled away from the smoke and a few tried unsuccessfully breaking the windows with a desk chair battering ram. The office workers responded to the jumpsuit uniform and her commands without noticing the lack of insignias. They balked when they saw Clark, but she coaxed one to accept his ferry over the gap. After one was lifted across, they trusted him.

All night long the same scene repeated itself: Clark proving he wasn't human-flying, lifting impossible weights single handed, cutting through the rubble with his heat vision, putting out fires with his breath, telling people about internal injuries-and Lois reassuring the survivors. "It's okay, he's Superman. He's here to help us." She eventually welcomed the children. They were never afraid once they saw Clark smile.

Their route made a circle around the pulverized crater the _Black Zero_ had left, so they ended up coming back to it after Clark didn't hear anyone in danger or smell any more fires. Lois stifled her yawn. The sliver of the waning crescent moon didn't tell her what time it was. The arms holding her princess style braced again, just like they had before they swooped down to help people. "What do you hear now?"

"Look down." His voice held all the weariness his body didn't seem to possess.

Soldiers in military camouflage swarmed over the wreckage of the ship that Clark had liberated from the ice and Zod had flown to Metropolis before Clark forced him to crash. "Is there anything dangerous left in it?"

"I don't know. My father, Jor-El, intended for me to have that ship." He winced. "I destroyed the embryos to stop Zod and without my command key, I doubt Jor-El's still in it. Or what's left of it."

_The embryos to start a new Krypton._ She squashed that thought. Clark did not need to rehash that. "Could Zod have left behind a program like Jor-El did?"

"We better make sure he didn't."

He swooped to the wreckage and Lois stifled another yawn. There was still too much to do for her adrenaline and energy to run out. The ship vaguely looked like a turtle. The soldiers saw them coming and one ran inside the hole in the ship. The uniformed figure returned with Sergeant Sekowsky, whom she remembered from Ellesmere Island. "Sergeant Sekowsky, Superman, Superman, Sergeant Sekowsky. I'm pretty sure you two didn't meet on Ellesmere," she said as Clark set her on her feet.

"No, I managed to avoid everyone but you." Clark stretched out his hand. "What's going on here?"

Sekowsky looked at the hand before shaking it. "General Swanwick ordered us to secure it." He shot a worried glance at Lois. "He wants Dr. Hamilton to examine it as soon as possible."

Lois winced. "Faora attacked while Dr. Hamilton and I were getting the starship drive running. I was knocked out the bomber's doors and Superman caught me, but Hamilton and Colonel Hardy were still on the plane when the Phantom Zone portal opened."

Sekowsky's strickened eyes glanced to where the _Black Zero_ had hovered over Metropolis. "We'll have to contact DARPA."

"We have to check something first." Clark gave him an apologetic look before he walked into the crash.

"What? No, you can't, sir!" Sekowsky hurried after him.

Lois nearly trod on his heels when she followed them. "Technically, it belongs to him. He's the last Kryptonian and it is a Kryptonian ship."

"But that's why the General-" Sekowsky snapped his mouth shut when Clark turned.

"The General doesn't trust me." He turned back to the waist-high, black console that held a command key. Lois glanced around for another flying robot, but none appeared. Clark pulled the command key out, not that it had any effect on the ship. "This has Zod's symbol on it." He held it out so Sekowsky saw it. "The one my birth parents sent with me had a program of my father that could control the ship."

"Some sort of artificial intelligence?" 

"I guess." Clark shrugged. "I'm not that familiar with computer and robot theory. Too bad he's in the Phantom Zone too now and you can't ask him. But that's why I'm doing this." His large hand curled around the black crystal-shaped metal until it shrieked with stress and snapped with sparks. He opened his fist and Sekowsky gaped at the mess of shards. "Just in case Zod did the same thing." 

Sekowsky accepted the shards Clark poured into his hands. "Okay, that's probably safer." He swallowed hard. "Look, General Swanwick was emphatic that we not let you take this ship away again."

"So the military locks it away from everyone?" Lois' hands found her hips.

"Our first alien encounter almost destroyed us. The General is very concerned that items in here could do the same by accident."

"But Superman isn't the enemy."

"Ms. Lane, I'm under orders."

"Lois, you did a story on a scientific company that remains separate from governments and military work," Clark said.

That story was years old. Had he done a search for everything she had written? She ignored the warmth that bubbled up. "S.T.A.R. Labs, they refuse all military work."

"That's my price. You confiscate the scout ship, but S.T.A.R. Labs gets full access. Otherwise, I'll take it back."

"I don't think anyone will have a problem with that." Sekowsky nodded. "I'll send someone to their Metropolis office tonight."

"We'll be in touch." Clark held out his hand to Lois and she clasped it. Once they were out in the circle of light surrounding the ship, he scooped her up and they flew into the air. He swallowed hard. "Will you go back to Mom's with me?" She shifted in his arms to see his face better, but he read hesitation in the move. "If it's a problem, I'll take you wherever you need to go. But I need to make sure Mom's okay after all this."

"I don't have a problem with your mother." She adjusted her arms around his neck. "Does she have a problem with me? She did throw me off your farm, but it made my top five list of politest scram reporter comebacks."

"I don't think she has a problem with you," he said slowly.

"Okay, I'd like to pick up a bag from my apartment and then we can go to Smallville." She pointed toward her apartment building, which was in a corner of Metropolis that had missed being pulverized by _Black Zero_ and Zod and Clark's fight.

Clark was amused by her multiple packed bags in her closet and accepted her ready for the story in any part of the world excuse with lips twitching. He slung her overnight duffle onto his shoulder and wrapped his free arm around her waist. Before she processed it, she was flying out of the city almost like he did, almost like dancing. 

Smallville was a short flight southwest of Metropolis, even though they crossed three state lines. The town's neon store signs were lit on streets other than Main Street. The residential suburbs and outlying farms were lit with orange streetlights. The one above the Kent mailbox at the beginning of the long driveway still worked. The night was quiet enough to hear the television above the generator's motor. Lois recognized the voice of a CNN correspondent talking about the shelters in Metropolis; he always got first shot at the disaster stories. There was a light on in a shed behind the house.

Clark set down in the side yard equidistant from the house, barns, and the low slung shed. "Mom?"

The correspondent's voice cut off and Lois realized that part of the glow was a television set. The door slid open and the dog bounded out first, cavorting in front of Clark. He smiled as he scratched behind Dusty's ears.

"I thought you two might show up here." Martha Kent crossed the yard and cupped Clark's face. "You did good out there, Clark. Don't you dare let anyone tell you different." Her arms squeezed him.

"Thanks, Mom, but I wish it hadn't gone the way it did." He returned the hug. "You remember Lois?"

"I do. Welcome, Lois. I've got food ready and rigged the shower up in the barn."

Lois couldn't read the older woman's shadowed expression. "Food would be nice." She couldn't remember how long ago it was when she shoveled down an MRE at Peterson Air Base. "Thank you for letting me stay."

Martha waved off the thanks as she led them into the low shed. It turned out to cover an underground storm shelter built over the years. Shelves covered the walls except the rear one where wide bunk beds had been built. A folding card table was set up in the center of the underground space and a shelf at counter height held a Crockpot, coffee pot, and hot plate. The small television was on the shelf next to the miniature kitchen along with a battery-operated, storm radio. "Pick a bunk."

One bottom bunk was already made up, so Clark set Lois's bag on the other. "I've always taken the top bunk." He grabbed a duffle bag off the thin mattress, avoiding the lanterns hanging from the ceiling. "I'll take a shower before eating." He pulled a sleeping bag from the second highest shelf to the right and dropped it on his bunk. "Be back in a few."

The silence after he left was deafening. Lois took another sleeping bag and unfurled it on the naked mattress under the bunk Clark had picked. Bed made, she turned back to Martha. The unsmiling woman's voice wasn't hostile when she kicked one of the folding chairs. "Sit down before you fall down."

She obeyed while Martha stirred the contents of the Crockpot. "I don't know why I'm so tired. Clark was the one doing everything."

"You were the one running after him."

Lois wanted to say she was chasing the story, but what was the difference at this point? The sweetest and hottest kiss she had ever experienced while literally floating in the air; she didn't need to share that with Clark's mother.

Martha set a plastic bowl filled with beef stew in front of Lois. "Are you going to tell the world Clark's story?"

She blinked. "I want to tell the world Superman's story. And we all want to keep other reporters away, but I haven't started composing yet." That wasn't entirely true, but it was too hard to explain the writing process to non-writers.

Martha set two more bowls on the table before digging for the spoons. "He needs a way to be normal. That won't happen if everyone knows everything about him."

"Agreed." Lois took a spoon. "But the military was already here."

Martha smiled, hard and predatory. "Smallville won't give away Clark. I've been busy since you two left."

Lois blinked again. "Good, I was worried about that."

Martha considered her again. "You do care about him. Clark called you a friend, but he never had many of those." They both heard Clark before he started down the stairs. He wore a pair of battered blue jeans that snuggled his hips and a long-sleeved T-shirt with the sleeves shoved over his elbows. "Eat, Clark." Martha kicked the folding chair next to Lois.

"Yes, ma'am." He sat with a sigh. "How bad are the damages?"

"Brian Gerhardsson broke into tears when he saw the Sears store. I didn't have the heart to tell him about the truck through the roof here after that." Martha sat at the table.

"An insurance agent, well, the only one in Smallville," Clark explained. Lois nodded and yawned without dropping the stew out of her mouth. Clark looked at his mother. "How are we all going to rebuild? It's going to take money."

"The military liaison said the government would help, but no one around here is holding their breaths." 

"Metropolis will need more money than us." His gaze fell on the dark television. "How many died?"

Martha looked confused. Lois rubbed her face. "We never stopped long enough to get numbers."

Martha nodded. "Nobody died in Smallville, but they were saying the death total in Metropolis will probably be in the hundreds." Clark's face fell. "Only the hundreds, son, because you got the people out who would have died trapped." She squeezed his hand.

"Lois helped too."

Sitting upright was too hard and his shoulder was at the right height to accept her leaning head. "I just channeled my father and barked orders. That's all."

"That's just the beginning," Clark said. He shifted, but his hands caught her before she toppled. "Bed before you pass out on me again."

She wanted to point out that passing out from anesthetic-less surgery was acceptable, but the yawn came out first. And then her mind drifted as soon as her back reclined on the mattress. 

Daylight streamed in through the cracks in the hatch door when she woke. She was alone, but a paper-towel-wrapped breakfast sandwich waited on a paper plate. After wolfing it down, she dug out clean clothes and headed to the barn with an intact roof.

The shower was a garden hose connected to a handheld sprayer in a stall with a drain in its concrete floor. She gritted her teeth against the chill of the water and opted for turning it off between rinses. After the grime of the past two days was soaped off, she dressed and went looking for her hosts.

An SUV kicked up dust as it moved down the driveway. Clark and the dog sat on the front porch steps watching it leave. "Morning, you found the shower." He waved at Lois' still damp red hair. "Sorry it's so rustic."

"One of the better rustic ones I've had." She nodded at the driveway. "We had company already?"

"Pete came by to check on Mom and gave her a ride so she can buy a new truck. She won't let me pull the old one out of the house until the insurance adjuster sees it." He stood with a lazy backbend and Lois' mouth went dry. "I promised to take pictures and tarp the other barn while she's gone."

"Do you need help?"

He smiled. "Shouldn't you be writing the story about everything that happened instead of swinging a hammer?"

"I don't want to be rude."

"You're not. Go introduce Superman to the world."

She set up a temporary desk on a weathered picnic table under the large shade tree behind the house while he pulled building supplies from the ruined barn. The dog settled under the table. Soon her fingers were gliding over the tablet keyboard as she focused on her memories and ignored Clark flying to take pictures of the house and barn roofs. She started with how she released her first story to Woodburn and how he justified her calling the Metroleaks website a creeping cancer of falsehoods by outing his source. She would respect him more if he had just talked to the military instead of seeing him on CNN while she was dressing for work.

That was a fun couple of paragraphs to write. She moved into the heart of this piece, Clark's heart, his symbol that means hope (but was going to stand for Superman now), rescuing her from the military's clutches, agreeing to surrender to save the world, and Zod's treachery.

A water bottle slid against her arm before landing next to her tablet. She said thank you as she read over her words, adjusting the flow of them between sips. Clark chuckled as he moved away. The hammer banged against nail and wood while she sped through her escape from the _Black Zero_ with hologram Jor-El's help to the Battle of Smallville. No internet connection, damn, she needed to see what spin was being put out about it. "Hey Clark, who has wifi around here?"

He floated from the barn. "The IHOP offers internet." He winced. "No, Faora and I fought through the IHOP. The library's on Third Street; we didn't fight there. Do you need to get online right now?"

"Some time today. I need to email my sister and let her know I'm okay." She stretched and focused on Clark's reddening face. "I don't know what the military has already said about the Battle of Smallville and we don't want everyone else to camp out here."

"I don't want anyone bothering Mom either, but if I keep lying to people, they won't trust me."

Lois straddled the bench and looked at him. His feet were on the ground so she didn't have to crane her neck much. "People are going to want to know why they came here of all the places in the world to attack."

"They were looking for the Codex so they could rebuild Krypton on Earth and thought it was hidden in the ship that brought me here."

"We can work with that." She turned back to the keyboard and typed it. "I thought Zod came here to hurt your mom for raising you."

"Secondary consideration," Clark said. "Krypton had population control. The Codex was used to inscribe the genetic attributes into an artificially incubated baby to fill a predetermined role in society."

"And the scout ship had embryos on it."

He nodded. "When my birth parents discovered Krypton was destroying itself, they had me," his cheeks flushed more, "the old fashioned way. Jor-El wanted me to be a bridge between humans and Kryptonians, so he must have intended for me to eventually raise them. I don't think the survival of Zod's forces was part of his plan."

"And you destroyed the embryos to stop Zod from creating his version of Krypton."

"Krypton had its chance." Clark shrugged. "Jor-El and Lara wanted me to be able to choose. Billions of lives versus hundreds of possible lives wasn't much of a choice."

"Do you want all that in my story?"

"I trust you, Lois. Help them see me like you do." He picked up a blue, plastic tarp and rose into the air.

"Photo shoot with the suit will help," she muttered under her breath. 

"My mom will see this story."

She dived back into her words, explaining the situation in Smallville in a few sentences before plunging ahead to the Battle of Metropolis and what they accomplished. She needed to interview Clark on what he did to the world engine, but for now she focused on the heroics of Colonel Hardy and Dr. Hamilton. They had flown out to bomb the _Black Zero_ and sacrificed their lives to save the Earth.

Now she was up to the battle between Superman and Zod. She had questions to ask Clark about that too-because she knew she had missed chunks of their exchange-and she felt like punching the asshole. Might as well admit that so she did, but left out the part of her interrogation where she learned why Zod wanted to kill everyone on Earth. No, she would not put that devastated look on Clark's face again.

Martha returned in a gleaming blue truck while Lois was describing the rescue scenes from last night. "That'll keep the rain out." She looked up at the blue tarp covered barn. "Brian is on his way over to see the damage."

Lois' fingers hovered over the keyboard. "Should I hide?"

"I don't see why. You're Clark's friend; that's all they need to know." Clark brought a plate of sandwiches and three water bottles from the storm shelter. "So, son, you're going to keep doing this saving the world thing?"

"When it needs it." He set lunch on the picnic table. "If what I can do saves people's lives, I have to keep doing it." He set one of the water bottles in Lois' reach.

Martha picked up a sandwich as she sat. "What are you going to do when you're not saving the world? Continuing tramping on odd jobs?"

"It wasn't a bad way to see the world." He sat across the table from Martha and Lois. "But I always ended up leaving people in a lurch." Lois opened her water bottle while Clark mused. "I gotta find a job where I can keep my ear to the ground, where people won't look twice when I wanna go somewhere dangerous or start asking questions."

"Can you write?" Lois asked. Martha and Clark looked at her. "You just described what I do everyday."

A few days later, Clark Kent's account of the Battle of Smallville and its rebuilding efforts was published in the local paper and then were picked up by the AP. _The Daily Planet_ published Lois' Superman story, the military debriefed her (and finally stopped asking for Superman's identity), and by the end of September, Clark was hired as a stringer for _the Planet_ and moved to Metropolis. That same week, Superman dug out survivors of back to back earthquakes in Pakistan and Lois wrote up that story. She also won the argument that he could sleep on her couch while he looked for his own apartment. When he got back from rescuing people from Cyclone Phailin and writing up that adventure, she consoled herself with a new king-size bed and Clark helped break it in. Sleeping together made it easier to soothe him from his nightmares, even if he told Martha when they saw her for Thanksgiving he was still looking for an apartment. Martha wasn't fooled and asked Lois (after sending Clark to town for cranberry sauce) if he was pulling his weight with the chores.

November rolled into the Christmas holiday season. Lois took refuge in her work, though Metropolis' celebration was focused on helping the still displaced citizens. She was compiling police reports on a strange weapon that was available on the streets when Superman landed on the balcony and joined her without changing out of the cape. "General Swanwick has left you alone, right?"

"Haven't seen any soldiers. What happened?"

Clark dropped into his easy chair. "He sicced a drone on me. I think it's been in the air since Typhoon Haiyan. I slammed his twelve million dollar piece of hardware in front of his car and told him he had to convince Washington I'm not the enemy."

Lois snorted. "Should I go lean on our congressmen in Washington? One of the representatives is on the Armed Services Committee."

"Give General Swanwick a chance to do the right thing."

"They aren't dedicating drones to find Batman and Wonder Woman and she flies too." 

He stared at her. "I read that story. You didn't say she flew."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't leave that detail out." She shuffled the police reports around her desk. "Who is making these guns?"

"Batman had a plane when he kept Gotham from blowing up. Is that what you mean?" She couldn't identify the note in his voice.

"If she had a plane, it was invisible. I saw Batman and Catwoman smooch like there was no tomorrow and they grabbed one of Wonder Woman's arms and she flew off with them. I put it in the story."

"I didn't read that."

She pulled up the _Daily Planet_ 's online archive of articles. That story was published in July so it was available behind the paywall. She recognized the paragraphs as she scanned over it. The surprising takeoff had been the third paragraph from the end's opener. And it was gone. "What the hell?"

"So I am remembering right?" Clark looked over her shoulder. "It isn't in the published story."

"Perry edited it out!"

"I'm sure that looked reasonable from his end. After all, people don't fly."

"I'll great Caesar's ghost his ass," she crossed her arms as she leaned back. Then she chuckled. "And a month later, I come back with a story that an alien saved my life and only my gnarly scar proves it. No wonder he refused to publish it. I'm lucky he didn't ask me to take a nice vacation with a mental health professional."

His hand slid across her side and rested over that scar. "What do you know about this Wonder Woman?"

"My description remained intact." She thought back. "Batman called her something else in Greek. Interpol started calling her Wonder Woman after the story published. She fought with a rope."

"A rope?"

"She lassoed the mercenaries and they confessed all their sins. And her punch packed a wallop. Why are you so curious?"

He didn't look at her or the computer. "The astronauts in the scout ship died in their pods, all but one. It was empty and open when I went inside. What if Wonder Woman is Kryptonian? And she's been hiding all this time?"

_He wouldn't be alone._ Lois knew she was a sorry substitute for losing his entire people, but she couldn't blame him. "She hasn't looked for us either."

"Maybe Batman convinced her it wasn't a good idea. The news reports during his heyday weren't sympathetic." Clark straightened. "You don't think it's a good idea to look for her?"

"I don't want her to hurt you." _Or me,_ she added to herself. "But if you want to spend Christmas searching Gotham City for clues where Batman has gone, unwrapping presents can wait." He grinned before kissing her cheek. "But you have to break it to your mother."

"I will. You got a reason to go to Gotham for Perry?" He headed toward their bedroom.

"He'll probably love a compare and contrast on the rebuilding of two great American cities. We can collaborate on it. This weird gun case can wait." She reached for her cell phone.


	2. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between getting a new roof on my house Thursday, Christmas shopping Friday, and car repairs on Saturday, I'm ready to take the rest of the month off. Have a chapter. Hope you like it.

  


## Part Two

### December 24, 2013

The red leaves surrounding the fist-sized cyathium smacked Nightwing's face. He swiped at the vine-like stalk with a Batarang, cutting the stem and freeing his vision. A vine wrapped around his leg and he ducked to cut it. More mutated poinsettia swarmed over him. He had delivered his present to Tara Ross earlier this week, so no obligations beyond saving Gotham City from the eco-terrorist and her mutated holiday decorations, but Christmas! Peace on Earth, goodwill towards man, leave the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree alone, Christmas! He cut his leg free and dodged to the left.

The giant, mobile poinsettias descended from the rooftop gardens of the British Empire Building and the La Maison Francaise. The leaves formed a wall blocking Fifth Avenue access to the plaza. The vines swept the wire and LED-light angels from the Channel Garden as Nightwing sprinted toward the ice rink. The civilians had cleared it and the rest of the buildings when the greenery exploded. Say what you want about Gothamites, but they knew how to run. He didn't see either redheaded woman he was looking for. "I should have packed a chainsaw today."

Multiple vines shot at him like they understood exactly what a chainsaw did. His job was to keep them occupied and himself out of reach of the eco-terrorist until Batgirl ended this. The noon-ish sun beat on his black armor and reflected off the white cement as he ran toward East Twentieth Street.

A mass of green descended and blocked that street entrance. He scrambled back, but a vine snagged his waist and pulled him into the mass. He slashed with the Batarang but his left hand was restrained before he could pull another one off his belt. Sap coated his arm, but more vine-like stalks closed in the gaps. "Come on Batgirl." A vine got around his throat and tightened against the armor. Breathing was uncomfortable and he stabbed at it with the Batarang.

Something red moved down outside the mass of green. He batted away what he thought were more leaves. His hand didn't contact them and the red had blue too. He gagged and tried to focus. "Let me help," a man said. 

Nightwing didn't recognize that voice or the blurry face above the blue and red, but he was sure he saw the man's eyes go red. There was fire above his head and the vines went limp and dropped him onto the pavement. He yanked free with gulps of air. The figure in a red cape landed next to him. The poinsettia vines yanked back and shook their flaming leaves. That didn't put out the fire. Nightwing realized his help was Superman.

The poinsettia bonfire blazed past the point of smothering when a woman screamed. Red leaves parted for Poison Ivy as she ran onto the largest vine growing from the British Empire Building's roof. The red-haired woman tore off her green coat. "MY BABIES!" She flung her coat on the flames. "MURDERERS!" A vine wrapped around her waist to keep her from toppling to the pavement.

Nightwing climbed to his feet, tugged Superman's arm, and pulled him down. His eyes were blue when they weren't shooting flames and were very confused. "Did she just call those plants her babies?" Superman asked.

"Don't get her started on Christmas trees," Nightwing said. He reached for his comm unit, but tugged Superman back when he stepped toward the screaming banshee. "Stay upwind. She turns men into drooling idiots. It's a proximity thing, so let my partner handle it."

Superman's attention was distracted by a black cape figure swinging down from the 30 Rock observation deck. Batgirl grabbed Poison Ivy's shoulder, spun her around, and slammed her fist against the screaming woman's jaw. The screaming stopped. Poison Ivy slumped, but Batgirl grabbed her before the vine let go. She kicked off and swung out. The vines reached for the pair. Batgirl's voice filled the ear piece speaker in Nightwing's mask. "How about setting the rest of these on fire?"

"I heard her," Superman said. He hovered higher and fire blasted from his eyes again. 

Nightwing grabbed the skin on his uncovered jaw, but his gloved fingers didn't give a fine enough grip to actually pinch himself. "Plants on fire covered," he said into his microphone. "Find a safe place to land and sedate Poison Ivy."

"Working on that," she said. "What's Superman doing here?"

"Didn't get a chance to ask him, but we better remember the kill the plants with fire tactic for next time."

"Next time?"

"Dr. Pamela Isley has a hate-on for Christmas that rivals the Grinch." He stretched his neck as much as he was able. He was going to feel that choke hold later. "So fire and chainsaws if she wants to steal Christmas next year."

"I'm asking Santa for Gotham to have a normal Christmas next year. We deserve it at this point." Batgirl unspooled her grapple line before the Christmas tree and the two figures lowered toward the ice.

He headed down the stairs to the concourse level ice rink. Batgirl laid Poison Ivy on the ice and pulled the jet injector from her belt. He strapped on the gas mask before striding onto the ice near the Prometheus statue. The tread on the boots kept him from slipping. His partner smirked. "We put an inhibitor in the sedative, remember?"

"I'm taking no chances with aiding her escape with that voodoo that she does." Nightwing pulled the cuffs off his belt.

Batgirl rolled her eyes. "She has mutated her bio-chemistry--"

He cut her off as he cuffed Poison Ivy. "If I still don't understand it after the last five times you have explained it, it might as well be voodoo. And Superman's here." 

She watched the newest cape pluck the poinsettia roots out of the rooftop garden and set them on fire too. "Because he's alien, Isley might be an alien too?"

"Not ruling out any possibilities." He slung Poison Ivy over his shoulder to get her off the ice before she got frostbite. Superman caught the mess of the former angels and stacked them at the corner of the La Maison Francaise building. "Wow, the footage they showed from Metropolis proved he's fast, but wow."

Batgirl didn't answer as she led the way up to street level. Superman finished his cleanup and they saw that camera crews had set up on Fifth Avenue beyond the police cordon. He floated down toward them. "Is she contagious?"

Batgirl shook her head. "Nightwing's paranoid. Isley altered her body's chemistry to have a hypnotic effect on men, but the inhibitor in the sedative counteracts that."

"It should," Nightwing added. They hadn't tested it when Batgirl and Fox created it.

"Anyway, thanks for the assistance," Batgirl continued. "I doubt Gotham has enough Round-Up to kill what she planted up there."

"Glad to help. I was in the neighborhood looking for Batman."

Nightwing felt Batgirl freeze as hard as the rink ice. "Not here, man." Superman's eyebrows knitted together. Nightwing sighed. "We have to turn Poison Ivy here over to police custody. Meet us in the Sheal Docklands."

"I know where that is." He nodded and rose into the sky.

Two police officers dressed in hazmat suits approached them from East Twentieth Street's entrance. Nightwing passed Poison Ivy to them. "Better get her out of the cold. Now our shift is over and we'll see you after dark as usual." 

Batgirl remained silent until after they were inside the Tumbler, Nightwing had removed the gas mask, and the vehicle had turned onto Nineteenth Street. "You want to take him to the bunker."

"We left our stuff in it last night. And the bunker means we don't have to explain the bats at the cave."

"No, we just have to explain why Batman hates me." She slumped in the passenger seat.

He knew this would come up. "Batman doesn't--"

"Save it, John! You and Mr. Fox both say the same thing, but Batman hasn't even sent us an email since he returned from the dead. And now you want to out our identities to the guy who flies around with a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who outed him as an alien and whose travel history Oracle had to scrub out of NORAD's database."

He idled at a stop light and ignored the gawkers. "You didn't tell me about that."

"The world didn't end and it was easy money."

It was a lot easier to keep Bruce Wayne's secret when he was convinced Bruce was dead. He had shared everything else with Babs, their success rate would have never gotten this high without her, and she had earned the right to know. But Bruce remained silent and he wondered if she was right about the disapproval but wrong about who Bruce disapproved of. Traffic thinned out the deeper they went into West Side. "Okay, I'm for being friendly. People can go ice skating tomorrow, thanks to him. Maybe it'll turn out to be something we can help him with without revealing anything."

"And Batman continues ignoring us and we pretend we don't know where he is."

"I'd love to take you to Italy, Babs, but you're the one who makes all the money in this partnership."

"If you took that job Mr. Fox keeps offering you, you could take me to Italy."

"You promised not to bring that up until after New Year's."

"Sorry," she said in a singsong voice that meant she totally wasn't sorry. He hit the sensor scrambler as they turned into the shipping yard that hid the bunker. The cargo container's doors that hid the elevator opened and Superman flew inside before they closed. He carried a woman wrapped in a stylish wool coat in his arms. Babs waved her hand at the monitor. "He brought the reporter."

Nightwing drove the Tumbler forward as the lights turned on inside. "Be nice."

"You be nice. Somebody's gotta cover the Gotham glower."

Superman set Lois Lane down while the top of the Tumbler slid open. Batgirl climbed out first and stalked to the computer station. Nightwing sighed. "We don't give interviews. No offense, Ms. Lane."

Her grin was sunny. "I'm sure it's because no one has asked the right questions, Nightwing. Like why didn't you chose Batwing as a name to operate under?"

Nightwing ignored her and focused on Superman. "You said you were looking for Batman. Why?"

"It's a long story," Superman said with a smile. "Actually, the one we want to talk to is Wonder Woman and she was last seen with Batman."

"Can't help you expose her too," Batgirl said with a growl almost as low as Batman's. "We don't know who she is."

"Expose her?" Lois' hands fell onto her hips. "What kind of reporter do you think I am?" Neither Nightwing nor Batgirl answered her, and Lois' scowl deepened. "Woodburn and his ilk have so much to answer for. Look, I practice journalism ethics and I don't give up a source that asks to remain anonymous."

"You told the whole world about Superman," Nightwing said.

"Yes, but I only told them about Superman. I didn't tell what name is on his driver's license."

Batgirl turned to Superman. "You have a driver's license?"

"I do," he said with a smile at her scowl. "I don't drive much, but I do have one. We aren't here chasing a story. This is personal."

Batgirl's stance relaxed with the puzzle. "You think Wonder Woman is a survivor of Zod's group?"

Nightwing stepped back to her. "No, Zod's group got here at the end of August and Ms. Lane's story was published in early July." Batgirl's blue eyes winced. "Wonder Woman was already here. She could have been an advanced scout, but soldiers in my experience aren't subtle and there's no way in hell Batman would team up with someone genocidal."

"So you're looking for a potential Kryptonian survivor like you," Batgirl said. "Someone who was sent away before Krypton blew up."

Lois looked at Superman. "The Bat-kids are quick."

"The Bat-kids are grown adults, ma'am," Nightwing answered. "How sure are you? The news report had Wonder Woman going through a wall, but humans are capable of that with shoddy construction."

"She flew. My editor took it out of the published story, but she can fly like he does." Lois jerked her thumb at Superman.

"Okay, that does make you sure." Nightwing leaned against the cement desktop. "But we've been incommunicado with Batman since the bomb blast, so we can't help you."

Superman looked resigned, which was such a sad shift that Nightwing wanted to give him a back slap out of it, but Lois looked thoughtful. "No, you are too smart for that. You know where Batman is but you're waiting for him to reach out to you." Her gaze roamed over the bunker and the open rooms. "Did you two borrow his stuff and start patrolling Gotham without his permission?"

"No wonder you got the Pulitzer," Batgirl said with a bitter chuckle. She pointed to Nightwing. "He's the appointed one; I'm the one operating without permission."

"No, you're my partner." Nightwing huffed. "He left."

"Yeah, we stepped into it, Lois." Superman said. "We didn't come here to make trouble for you. Regardless if Batman approves or not, you two are doing good in Gotham."

Batgirl looked suspiciously at him. "You aren't calling in a favor for helping with Poison Ivy?"

"No, you two had that in hand. I just cleaned up the mess."

"And saved me from getting strangled," Nightwing added. "Thanks for that."

"I'd do that for anybody. We'll find Batman some other way, and tell him to call home. It's not right for him to put you under this cloud of doubt."

Nightwing pictured Bruce holed up sporting a new goatee and Superman delivering uncomfortable facts to him. Bruce had accepted it when Blake did it, maybe this time it would work as well. 

Lois sighed. "And how are we supposed to find him? It's a big planet. You should know; you've flown around it a couple of times."

Superman shrugged. "I assumed Batman is broadcasting on the same frequency they are." He jerked his head in Batgirl and Nightwing's direction. "Or more accurately, the metal devices implanted in their necks are broadcasting. It'll take a while, but I don't need that much sleep."

Batgirl jolted. "You can hear that?" Superman nodded. "Well, crap," she said faintly.

"So much for leaving us out of it." Nightwing shook his head.

"I promise to stick up for you," Superman said. "I can't help it if I acquire different observations, thanks to my not-human senses."

Nightwing pressed his fingers against the domino mask covering his nose. He owed Bruce loyalty, but he owed Babs more. But telling without Bruce's permission after all this time, he gritted his teeth. It looked like the only way to deal with it was round two of uncomfortable truths for the recluse.

Batgirl crossed her arms again. "There's no point in keeping our masks on with you? No matter how badly we want to keep our loved ones safe."

"I think we got off on the wrong foot here." Superman stretched his hand out to her. "Clark Kent, I live in Metropolis and I work at the _Daily Planet_ with Lois. And your loved ones are safe from me."

She pulled off her cowl and shook her red hair before shaking his hand. "Barbara Gordon, but you can call me Babs."

Nightwing pulled off his domino mask and stretched out his hand. "John Blake." Clark's handshake was firm and didn't reveal his awesome strength.

"Let's leave my dad out of this." Babs turned to the computer screen and called up a program.

"A pair went active with no names assigned in early April," Blake continued. "They went separately into Uzbekistan, met up, and then went to Italy." Babs focused the map on Europe, then Italy's peninsula, and finally on Florence. "One has stayed put there since and one took a trip to Australia during Zod's invasion, but we don't have any details about that."

"So now we've got to go to Italy," Lois sighed. 

Blake squared his shoulders. "I'm going with you."

"Do you still have the Bat plane?" the reporter asked.

"No, that blew up with the bomb," Babs answered. "But Clark flies?"

"I'm not so aerodynamic with suitcases." 

Babs glanced at Blake. "I've been squirreling funds in the Grayson account. It should be enough for one round trip ticket. I can't leave Dad, not on our first Christmas since the divorce."

"That's money you've made." Blake rubbed the back of his head.

"And I put it aside for crime-fighting expenses. This qualifies." She focused on the computer screen. "Don't worry about Gotham. I'll keep patrolling."

"We need to finish our reports, check out of the hotel, and find a flight." Lois pulled a couple of business cards out of her pocket. "Here's our cell phone numbers. Meet you at Gotham International Airport?"

Blake accepted the cards. "Yeah, I need to pack."

"See you in a few then. How do we get out of here?" Superman glanced around the bunker.

"Get back on the lift and I'll send you up." Babs opened the lift controlling program while Blake snagged his civilian clothing and headed to the bathroom. By the time he changed and packed his suit (because with his luck he'd need it), their visitors were gone. "I guess it's a good thing you didn't have Christmas plans," Babs said in an artificially cheery voice.

"These things work out. So anything in particular you want from Florence, or should I just grab a tacky T-shirt?"

She stared at the multiple computer screens, but her gloved hands curled into fists on the desktop. "Oh the tacky T-shirt, I won't make you promise what you can't deliver." Hurt bled through the cheery sarcasm she painted over the words.

_Damn it._ He crossed the bunker. His hands grabbed her shoulders and turned her to him. "You are my partner." His cheeks heated, but he kept his eyes focused on hers. "What he says about that does not matter. The only way he can stop us from crime-fighting is to move back to Gotham and lock up all his toys and we'll take our toys and move to Bludhaven. And yes, it will be us because you are my partner and I've got your back." He cupped her face. "You are my partner."

Her bright blue eyes widened before she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. "Thanks, John. You better go pack." 

It didn't take him long to squeeze two more outfits into the same hard-backed suitcase with the Nightwing suit. What took time was getting through Midtown and Uptown and all the traffic that had blossomed since Poison Ivy had been locked away. It was twilight before he parked the motorcycle in the secured parking lot at the airport.

Clark wore glasses when he wasn't wearing the Superman suit. And he tousled his hair while typing on a laptop. Blake joined him at the restaurant table overlooking the concourse. "Holding the fort?" He asked as he sidestepped the rolling suitcase and garment bag.

"Checking that our editor got our first submissions. Lois is getting tickets. According to her, I'm too easy-going to get anything done in Gotham." Clark smiled and his laptop beeped.

"Okay, wake me up when I've got to pay for something." Blake supported his head on his crossed arms as he slumped over the table. The clicking keyboard blended into the bustling drone of the travelers. Blake zoned out with no regrets. It had been a long night learning Poison Ivy's science and a longer morning looking for where she was threatening Christmas. He needed rest before confronting Bruce again or considering how to handle that diplomatically.

His nap lasted until Lois said, "Deck the hells, I hate the holidays." A heavy purse slammed into the neighboring chair and Blake jerked up blinking. The older redhead frowned. "We missed the last direct flight to Rome by an hour. There is a plane going to Paris tonight, but it is completely full as of right now. I put us on stand-by but the ticket people don't expect seats to open up." She shifted the purse to the table and sat. "You got more good news?"

"Perry likes the Gotham half of our rebuild stories, but wants to run it after the holidays," Clark said and offered her a water bottle. "And he thinks we're going to Smallville."

"As long as we don't use the expense account, he doesn't care where we go." Lois guzzled some water. "How do you feel about pulling a sleigh?"

"I'm not a reindeer."

Blake's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. "Excuse me," he said to the others. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Fox. About that job offer, I've decided to take it."

"Merry Christmas to you too, Mr. Blake, and I'm glad to have you on board, but I wasn't calling you about that." The older man sounded amused. "I'm going to Europe for a few days, so I won't be available for consulting."

"You got a ticket?" Blake wouldn't have blurted that out if he hadn't been so tired. "Sorry, it's just some friends and I are trying to get to Europe and everything is booked solid."

"Are you at the airport right now? How many in your party?"

"Yes and three."

Mr. Fox chuckled. "I have to make a call to get you added, but it shouldn't be a problem. Come around to the VIP lounge."

Blake blinked at his cell phone and then at Lois and Clark. "I think I got us a ride."

* * *

Clark knew private jets existed; he just never expected to be offered a cushy leather recliner on one. Blake also blinked at the polished wood paneling while the flight attendant took his suitcase. Lois took the seat closest to Mr. Fox, and continued asking him about Wayne Enterprises' plans. Clark shook his head. "Lois, Mr. Fox is doing us a favor. He didn't ask to be interviewed."

"Nobody asks to be interviewed, Clark. And if they do, the real story is not what they want to tell you."

The older African-American man chuckled. "Ms. Lane, I'm glad you're not on the Board of Directors."

"Why? Does the current President of Wayne Enterprises have something to hide?"

"Only as much as you do." His brown eyes twinkled. "But Fredericks and I could have used you there when Bill Earle was CEO."

The names meant something to Lois and she recapped Wayne Enterprises history while the jet climbed into the air. He had put in the same amount of research she had before this whirlwind trip, but he had to refer to his notes constantly. He loved the way she retained everything and made the connections no one else could see. He opened his laptop, accepted the bottled water with an unfamiliar label, and went to work on his story about rebuilding Gotham City's police department. Lois had let him have it solo since he was looking for pointers on how to deal with Metropolis' police department that still considered him a military-level issue.

Commissioner Gordon had been open about how he started working with Batman. "All I was back then was a good cop surviving. Batman picked me out of the few good ones to work with, right before he delivered one of the biggest mob bosses with evidence Falcone couldn't lawyer or bribe around." Gordon chuckled. "He snuck into my office and put what I thought was a gun to the back of my head to ask his questions. He told me later it was my stapler."

Clark frowned. "Batman wanted you afraid of him?"

"Actually, I don't think he wanted me to see him before his disguise was perfected. I chased him to the roof and all he had was the armor and a ski mask." The memory made Gordon chuckle again before he looked serious. "Gotham before Batman was all fear. Good people afraid of what bad things could be done to them, and dangerous people feeding off that fear to grab hold of power and money. What did they have to fear when they owned this town? They couldn't own Batman and when they feared him, we learned they could be defeated. It was a different time then. Nightwing and Batgirl are both more visible than Batman ever was."

Clark needed to talk about that with John Blake. Were they gung-ho about scaring people? He couldn't ask now. The flight attendant moved between the cockpit and the cabin and Blake was curled up in his reclined seat with a blanket over his head, asleep.

Lois' eyes landed on the lump too. "What job did you hire him for?"

Mr. Fox's smile warmed. "Security for Wayne Enterprises and prototype testing. Just doing my part to keep a Gotham hero fed without hurting his pride." Clark looked alarmed at him referring to Nightwing openly and Mr. Fox chuckled again. "You didn't recognize him? John Blake is one of the heroes of the Occupation. He saved Commissioner Gordon's life right at the beginning."

"He's the Blake of the bridge convoy, isn't he?" Lois asked.

"Yes, he is, but he doesn't like talking about that event much. And I'm sorry to derail such a delightful conversation, Ms. Lane, but it will be noon local time when we land and I'm an old man who needs some sleep." Mr. Fox leaned his chair back, and Lois snagged a blanket for herself while Clark powered down the laptop.

The flight attendant turned off the cabin lights and Clark closed his eyes. Tomorrow was Christmas. His mother would eat dinner with Pete Ross' family, like she had other years when Clark couldn't make it back to Smallville in time. But this year he put finding Batman and Wonder Woman ahead of her. He felt the urge to find her something nice in Italy, even though he had already mailed her Christmas present two weeks ago. It had been a rough few months. She deserved two Christmas presents.

His nightmares didn't visit during the flight. The flight attendant woke them two hours before landing with an offering of pastries and coffee. Blake slicked back his curly hair with his hands and winced at the sunlight forcing its way past the blinds. "So how far do we have to go after we land?" he asked.

"Where are you trying to go?" Mr. Fox stirred creamer into his coffee. "You never did say."

"Oh, Florence, Italy." Blake took his coffee black and almost drained his cup in one swallow.

"That's where we're landing." Mr. Fox grinned behind his coffee cup.

Lois swallowed her bite of éclair. "No way, really?"

"Do you have a street address? I have a car waiting at the airport, but I think going with you will be much more amusing than waiting at a hotel."

Clark glanced at Lois, who tilted her head, not knowing the answer to his unasked question.

Blake dug out his cell phone. "I'm getting the feeling that you gifted yourself a little payback for Christmas this year." He opened up a program and passed it to Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox's grin widened. "Me? I was invited by a friend who relocated to Florence after years of summer vacations there. But I'll venture payback is your incentive for this jaunt."

"Payback is too petty," Blake said. "And by now I'm used to being disappointed. But there's safety in numbers from who were about to drop in on."

"Definitely," Mr. Fox answered as he studied the cell phone screen. "This is Ms. Gordon's handiwork, isn't it?"

"She turned it into an app." 

"And she's still planning to be a librarian?"

Blake smirked. "To quote, nobody suspects the librarians."

Mr. Fox chuckled and returned the cell phone before asking Lois if she had ever been to Tuscany. Lois' only trip to Italy so far had been to Rome. He kept the conversation on what landmarks they should see while in town and in Italy until the plane landed and they transferred into a black town car. 

The address took them through the outskirts of the city among villas, olive trees, and pastures to a walled villa. The driver spoke Italian to the black gates speaker and the car was permitted inside once he mentioned "Mr. Fox." The driveway curved around a privacy wall and ended in a small lean-to carport against the tower looming over the property. The wall opened before it reached the tower. Ivy spread from the tower to the arches of the loggia of the L-shaped house attached to the tower. The driver deposited their luggage in the paved yard before the loggia before giving Mr. Fox his card.

A man whose hair had gone snow white opened the largest wooden door under the loggia. "Lucius," he chided in a British accent instead of Italian. "I wouldn't have kept you at the hotel all day." He recognized Blake with a cheeky smile. "The trackers, Mr. Blake?"

"The trackers," Blake confirmed.

"This will show them they should have opted for a pair of rings." His smile vanished when he turned to Lois and Clark standing besides the luggage.

Lois took charge like she did when anyone gave her an opportunity. "Lois Lane and Clark Kent with--"

" _The Daily Planet_ ," he interrupted. "This household subscribes."

"It's okay," Blake said. "They're not here as reporters. Well, you're not," he added when Lois spluttered. "Plus Ms. Lane gets mad when you imply she can't keep a secret."

"You have not seen me mad."

"My partner is a redhead. I know of what I speak. This is Alfred Pennyworth."

"Just Alfred is fine. Come in from the cold." Clark and Blake picked up the luggage, but Alfred made them put it down in a formal living room next to a set of stairs. "Everyone is upstairs." He led the way up the garland-decorated staircase. Clark focused his senses and heard four more heartbeats; though one was beating so fast he wondered if medical help was needed. A woman's voice carried down the stairs. "It would do you good to leave the house for a while."

"You don't want to go alone to the Christmas concert. Do you really think I can stay awake through it?"

"How many times were you told to go to sleep last night? By everyone?"

Alfred cleared his throat as they climbed into a more informal living room on the second story. Roasting goose combined with scents of cinnamon and nutmeg. More pine garland, red and gold ribbons, and candy canes hung from the exposed wooden beams in the ceiling. A large sprig of mistletoe hung over the doorway right before the stairwell. The Christmas tree sat in the far corner between the fireplace and the windows and was decorated with delicate red and gold glass ornaments, but a pair of pink baby booties perched on a center branch. The entire Greek pantheon in foot-tall bronze statuettes held court on the mantle with tumblers of wine set in front of three of them. Four miniature Christmas trees decorated with peppermint candy ornaments sat on the low wall separating the kitchen from the living room. A man and a woman stood in the sitting area before the fireplace as their group trooped into the room.

The handsome man, about Lois' age, had gray already feathering into his brown hair. His face didn't betray his spike in heart beats that Clark almost missed as the man quickly calmed himself. The woman was beautiful like a Greek statue come to life, resplendent dressed in white denim pants and jacket. Raven curls spilled down from a loose ponytail onto her shoulders. Unlike her companion, curiosity furrowed her olive-toned brow. 

"We have guests for Christmas, Master Wayne," Alfred said.

And Lois, unflappable in the face of aliens and the military Lois, volunteers to report in every trouble spot as soon as it develops Lois, her mouth fell open. "Bruce Wayne? You faked your death?"

Bruce looked at Mr. Fox, who sat himself in an armchair. "We're no longer operating under plausible deniability, Mr. Wayne?"

The look turned to Blake, who shrugged as he sat on the hearth. "I don't out people; it's rude."

Alfred ushered Lois and Clark toward the large couch. "Ms. Lois Lane, Mr. Clark Kent, would you like something to drink? Eggnog perhaps?"

"Yes, thank you," Clark answered.

"Not too much nog for me," Lois said.

"I understand perfectly." Alfred headed to the adjacent kitchen.

The woman raised her eyebrows at Bruce as she sat in the other armchair. "Sorry, Diana. This is Lucius Fox, president of Wayne Enterprises, and John Blake, I left Gotham in his hands. This is Diana Prince."

"Hello," she graced their group with a warm smile.

They echoed the hellos as Alfred returned with a tray of small glasses. Clark smelled the rum from Lois' glass from his seat. Bruce turned to Blake after he sat on the loveseat. "You're looking good. The incident at the Rockefeller Center didn't cause any harm."

"Poison Ivy did not wreck the Christmas tree." Blake pumped his fist. "And you're looking better than I feared considering you don't call or email."

"That's our fault," another woman's voice said from the doorway under the mistletoe. They turned to a brunette woman, still puffy from pregnancy, holding a newborn infant. "We insisted he take a vacation. Told him he was back on duty only if there was an alien invasion, and damn if that didn't happen."

"Zod was really inconsiderate that way," Lois said as the woman joined them. 

A grin lifted the corners of Bruce's lips into his eyes. "Meet Helena Martha Kyle-Car-"

"WAYNE!" Both Alfred and the new woman yelled.

Diana laughed. "Will you relent already? Our little Amazon will have your name."

"That's not what her birth certificate says," Bruce argued.

"Yes, it does," the mother said. "Alfred brought the nurse back so I fixed it when you had to follow Helena to the nursery." She set Helena in Mr. Fox's arms.

He grinned with watering eyes. He looked up at the mother. "Seems to me Mr. Wayne got lucky several ways." 

She blushed. "We both got lucky."

Bruce pulled her to sit next to him. "Selina, meet Lois Lane and Clark Kent."

Selina grinned. "I love your stories. Wait a minute, is this how you're planning to tell the world?"

"You and Alfred are the ones not happy with my perfectly legal alias," Bruce said.

"We'll deal with the ramifications of your resurrection later," Mr. Fox said as he rocked the infant. "She's beautiful. Is Helena your mother's name, Selina?"

She shook her head. "No, we wanted a Greek name for where she was conceived and one she can spell."

Diana pouted. "She would learn to spell Nikephoros."

"Okay, a Greek name I can spell." Selina leaned against Bruce. "Alfred got you over here, didn't he?"

"I was invited," Mr. Fox admitted. "But Mr. Blake and his party hitched a ride without checking where I was going."

"You were going to the right continent," Blake said.

Bruce frowned. "What happened? Is something wrong with you or your partner?"

Blake rotated his empty eggnog glass in his hands. "We need to talk about Batgirl before I leave, but this trip was a favor for Superman."

Lois set her glass on the side table. "Good, we're not ignoring the spandex-covered elephant in the room. He's Superman," she jerked her thumb at Clark, "you're Batman," she pointed to Bruce before focusing on Selina. "You must be Catwoman. I saw the kiss you gave Batman back in Uzbekistan. So that means you're Wonder Woman who carried Batman and Catwoman when you flew away."

"I thought you missed that. It wasn't in the story," Selina said.

"My editor took it out."

Diana sighed. "You're right, I did. The press calls me Wonder Woman."

Clark scooted to the edge of the couch. "Are you from Krypton like me?" 

Her face fell and her blue eyes winced. "No, I'm Princess Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons and Zeus."


	3. Part Three

  


## Part Three

Clark's stomach dropped. His face felt rigid as he looked at the wooden floor. Lois leaned, pressed their arms together, and slid her hand into his. She talked to draw the attention to herself. "Zeus, the Greek god of lightning and father of all the other gods?"

"Yeah, they're real." Selina took Helena back from Mr. Fox. "We met Hermes."

Lois picked up her glass. "I need more." Alfred plucked it from her hand and bustled to the kitchen.

"You can fly?" Blake asked Diana.

"It was a gift from Hermes."

"And you're an Amazon like from Homer?"

She nodded. "I am descended from them."

"Which pantheon are we going to hear from next?" Lois asked. 

"That reminds me," Selina turned to Bruce. "I still want to go to Egypt."

"You have to wait until Helena's old enough to travel." Bruce's finger stroked his daughter's cheek.

Diana turned to Clark. "I am sorry to disappoint you. It's hard enough for me and I still have a home to return to."

"Earth is my home." Clark let go of Lois and clenched his fists. "I was raised on Earth, I chose Earth." He sighed. "I should have found some way to save everyone."

Diana gracefully knelt in front of them. Her fingers coaxed Clark's open so she looked at his hands. "You have the hands of a farmer, not a warrior." 

His mouth twisted. "Zod said the same thing. What's the point of wearing a secret identity if everyone sees that about me?" 

"You look good in the cape, for starters," Lois muttered as she accepted her refill. Alfred vanished back into the kitchen.

"If everyone sees that about you," Bruce said, "it's time for training so they won't."

Clark's head jerked and he stopped his body from rearing back with it. "If there's one thing the Invasion showed me, I'm not a warrior or a soldier. I won't kill again."

"That's not what I--" Bruce began, but Diana interrupted him.

"You had to kill to protect the innocent." Her forehead wrinkled. "It is always the last choice, but?"

Clark slumped. "Zod left me no choice. And he had no choice with how he was genetically engineered to be a warrior to protect Krypton." 

He felt Lois tense beside him and glanced at her. "He had no choice only to a point, Clark." She slammed back her rum-diluted eggnog before pressing her lips together until they turned white.

Selina shifted Helena when the infant made a squawk. Helena settled once Selina stood and Diana moved back to her seat. "The family Zod tried to kill never thanked you for saving their lives, did they?"

He didn't know why she wanted to know that, but she had welcomed them into her home on Christmas and the day after she had given birth. "No, they ran as soon as they could. Can't blame them for not sticking around the vicinity of a couple of monsters who tore through buildings and shot fire from their eyes." 

She shook her head as she cradled her baby against her shoulder. "What is it with the people you save from certain death never saying thank you? It might help when the nightmare inevitably comes that Bane's vaporized, but my trigger finger was too slow and Batman's head is nothing but a blood smear on marble tiles followed by waking up in an arid hellhole with only morning sickness to remind me that it really didn't happen that way." 

Clark gaped at her. How Bane died was chalked up to Batman or a lucky cop. In the sudden quiet, Bruce's flinch was audible. "Selina," he said. She kept her eyes on Clark. Clark managed to shut his mouth.

"You killed Bane," Blake said softly but it wasn't a question.

Selina didn't turn toward him either. "To save Bruce. Bane had a shotgun pointed at his head when I charged in. I had no choice." Her large, brown eyes were moist with sympathy but ringed with fire. 

"How do you live with it?" That wasn't what he had intended to say. If his abilities didn't scare them away, his weakness would.

"I'm not giving you any song and dance how the nightmares will stop someday. But thank you's do help. So thank you for saving me and everyone else on this planet." Before Clark reacted, Selina set Helena into his hands. He cradled her head and neck. She yawned and blinked at him. Her blue eyes stared at him without fear. "Thank you for saving my daughter."

"You were pregnant during the Battle of Metropolis," he said. Helena scrunched her nose.

"About twenty-three weeks along." Selina gave him a lopsided smile. "Relegated to the home front since I had a baby bump." 

Diana and Bruce protested at the same time, but Clark heard them both clearly. "The first duty is to protect the next generation," Diana said. Bruce said, "Selina, you were vulnerable."

"Both of you, it's over, Helena's here, drop it," Selina said. "I made myself useful in the computer chair, regardless."

Mr. Fox chuckled. "Overprotective much?"

"Yeah, Helena's probably an only child now after how they acted."

"Is her heart supposed to be beating this fast?" Clark asked.

"That's normal for newborns," Bruce answered.

Clark smiled at Helena. She waved her chubby fist. Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van had held him like this thirty-three years ago before launching him into space. Jonathan and Martha Kent had held him like this after they opened the starship on Earth. And now this woman trusted him to hold her daughter. Trust felt good after the year they had all had between Gotham's Occupation and Zod's invasion. His smile widened. 

Helena squirmed and kicked her legs. "She's ready to move again," Selina said as she and Clark traded off. "Here Blake, don't get cop cooties all over my kid."

"I resigned months ago," he replied as he accepted the baby.

Diana smiled at them before turning the sunny expression to Clark. "Training is more than learning how to kill. It harnesses your strengths and abilities and teaches you what you can do with them. And sparring would benefit us both. I have to hold back with everyone else."

"She picked up a Jeep at the compound in Uzbekistan," Lois confirmed.

Clark didn't have to worry about hurting her. He should accept their offer, before they decided he was someone to fear. "Okay, training, when?"

"After New Year's. I have plans with Steve." Diana's smile softened with the mention of Steve. 

"Now if that's all settled," Alfred said from the kitchen. "Find something cheerful to talk about for dinner. It's ready to be served."

"Everyone make your way to the dining room." Selina shooed them toward the hallway branching away from the kitchen before taking Helena from Blake.

"Sorry about barging in," Clark said.

Bruce waved it aside. "Alfred always over cooks for the holidays, so the more the merrier."

Diana led them and Lois quizzed her about Steve as the rest of the group followed them. Bruce lingered to take Helena and whisper to Selina. Clark heard the quiet aggrievement. "I did thank you."

Selina snorted under her breath. "You thanked me for not being scared of you. Don't worry, I figured you implied gratitude when you kissed me," she whispered back.

"That was more than gratitude." Bruce's whisper ended with the rasp of skin on skin and pounding hearts.

Clark found his seat at the long table and focused on Lois to give them some privacy. She glanced across the table at him and smiled.

* * *

Selina got out from under Bruce's arm without waking him. Good, he needed more sleep after staying awake for the last forty-eight hours. She silenced her cell phone alarm before going to the bassinet. Helena had just begun kicking. "Shush, let Daddy sleep. Clean diaper first and then you get food."

It didn't take long to wrap a clean diaper around Helena's legs. Considering the wait before potty training, it was great she was becoming less clumsy. She carried her daughter through the living room and into the kitchen, fixed a large glass of water, and settled in the over-stuffed armchair with the Boppy pillow before Helena wailed. The infant latched on and Selina winced. The nurse swore she'd get used to the sensation. She looked around the living room, watching how the flames from the fireplace shifted the familiar shadows. The dark house with its sleeping inhabitants wrapped around them like a blanket.

The door to the tower didn't creak, but the sense that had helped Selina on so many break-ins recognized that it had swung open. Diana's room was on the third floor above the house, Blake had been put into the bedroom next to Alfred's on this floor, Lucius went to his reserved hotel room, and they had put the reporters in the tower bedroom. One of them must have woken. Selina watched the dining room hallway. 

The red-haired woman loudly crept out of the shadows; she needed more practice, Selina decided. Lois spotted her in the living room. "Sorry, I'm jet lagged."

"Jet lagged or still pissed at Zod for hurting Clark?"

"What happened to my poker face?" Lois flopped into the other armchair. "I used to win all the poker games before Perry banned them from the bullpen. Now anybody mentions Zod, and Clark tells me I should have a doctor check my blood pressure."

"Well, I have experience with hating a guy who can squash you like a bug should he deign to do so."

"Bane?"

"Bane."

"Does Bruce feel sorry for Bane?"

"Not Bane, he and that puppet master bitch had more than enough opportunities not to turn Gotham into a crater. Two-Face," Selina paused, considering how little of that story was available, "I wasn't around, but Bruce makes it sound like he had a psychotic break and needed help. Bruce regrets that outcome." Selina thought about what Clark had said about Zod. "You're not a proponent of the genetic predisposition theory?"

Lois sighed as she crossed her cotton-knit covered legs underneath her. "It factors to a point. Yes, I believe that Zod was genetically manipulated into a perfect soldier loyal to Krypton. Both Zod and Jor-El saw a huge problem with the way Krypton was but chose vastly different ways to save it. Zod staged a coup while Jor-El had a kid free of genetic conditioning and shot him into space."

Selina's arm holding Helena in place tightened. Clark's poor Kryptonian mother, damn that must have taken Bruce-levels of conviction. "They had free will how to use their genetic conditioning."

Lois nodded. "So Zod's genetic conditioning compelled him to have a Krypton to protect."

"And he picked to build it on top of Earth; I read that in your story."

"What I left out, what I can't even tell Clark, it had nothing to do with Zod's genes." Lois stared into the fire. "Onboard the _Black Zero_ , Zod had a way of getting into your head. I think it was technology based, and he used it on Clark too. We had to leave it out; the military is freaked out enough about what Clark can do and he can't get into people's heads. The X-ray vision doesn't let you have a conversation with the gray mass."

"And Zod had telepathy?" Selina asked.

"Something like that. He was in my head, taking me to all the places I had been with Clark. But he showed me what was in his mind too. We were on the scout ship and he told me how he wanted to recreate Krypton with the embryos stored on it. So I suggested Mars." Her eyes sought out Selina's face. "The machine they put in the South Indian Ocean could have turned Mars into Krypton. No one would fuss since they were refugees and they had superior weapons."

"So why did he turn down such a sensible suggestion? Was it because you were a woman or just because you're human?"

"He wanted to kill Clark for being an abomination and punish Earth for helping him live." 

Selina blinked. Helena finished nursing so she moved the baby up to her shoulder to burp. "Wow, what an asshole. Great, assholes are a universal truth we can't get away from. I'm glad Clark won."

Now it was Lois' turn to blink, which lasted for almost a minute, until she chuckled. "If I have to do a retrospective piece, I'm stealing that."

"Autograph my copy of the Uzbekistan story and you got a deal."

"Okay. Thank you for listening to me. Clark's hurting enough over losing everything connected to Krypton."

"Everything?" Selina asked.

"The key that had a program of his birth father was lost in the Phantom Zone with his starship and the _Black Zero_. Everything else the government confiscated they turned over to S.T.A.R. Labs, humoring Clark's request. But he doesn't dare go study it. Don't want anyone to think he's interested in taking over the Earth." 

Helena belched, such a tiny sound, and Selina moved her down. "Just putting this out there, but if it's an issue after Helena's weaned, I'll go liberate his stuff. Bruce can't have an issue with me stealing it for the rightful owner."

Lois' eyebrows climbed up toward her long bangs. "Thanks, I think. I'm going to try sleeping again. Good-night."

"Good-night." Helena yawned as Lois went back to the tower. "Let's go back to bed too, my little kitten."

* * *

Bruce patted Helena's back while Selina detached from the breast pump. Thick curtains over their bedroom windows blocked the morning sun, but Alfred at work on breakfast was audible. Smelled good too. But Selina had nearly black circles under her eyes. "How many times did you get up last night?" he asked.

She glared. "Every two hours she needs to eat. You do the math." 

"It'll be better when she can have a bottle," Bruce said. The glare intensified. "I've got her now. Go back to sleep."

She set the pump with everything still attached on her nightstand. "Best plan you have ever uttered." She recovered her breasts and rolled into the blankets in one move.

He scooped up the full breast pump and balanced Helena against his shoulder. Before he reached the door, Alfred was there to take it. "Selina's going back to sleep."

"Of course." Alfred headed back to the kitchen and Bruce trailed after him with both hands on Helena. "Miss Diana went out for her morning run. Mr. Blake opted for gymnasium exercises before breakfast. Neither Ms. Lane nor Mr. Kent has appeared yet."

Bruce drained his green juice glass. "Nothing from Lucius?"

"He never has been one to grill you."

"I also left the mess of rebuilding in his hands. I'll coax Blake down for breakfast." He carried Helena up the tower stairs and recognized the rhythmic slams against the punching bag. The younger man pounded into it with his back to the stairs. He wore sweats the same as Bruce. "How badly do you want to hit me?" Bruce asked.

Blake glanced over his shoulder. "I've seen you fight. I don't want to go home with a broken arm." He threw an upper cut into the bag. "But I'm good with abandonment, you know."

Bruce winced as he crossed the room and set Helena in the baby swing next to the weight stand. Her blue eyes looked at the mobile hanging on it. Once the swing was moving, he toed off his shoes and stepped onto the mat that covered most of the floor. "I didn't intend to abandon you. I thought it would be easier for you to find your own way." 

Blake left the punching bag and walked onto the mat. "See, that's something you could have emailed us back in April when we knew you weren't dead."

"My headspace didn't improve to think about doing that until July, and then we all got distracted with an expected baby and alien invasion." They circled each other, looking for openings in the other's stance. "This year… this year has just… I promise if I ever have to fake my death again, I'll let you in on it."

Blake lunged forward and Bruce deflected the grapple. "I want those instructions given to Alfred and Selina too."

"Selina was a factor."

"Why, because I arrested her for kidnapping a Congressman?"

Bruce's kick had more force than was necessary, but Blake dodged it. "You didn't have to put her in Blackgate."

"I didn't make that decision and you know it. Besides, if she's the reason you're not living in a bathrobe, we all owe her."

Bruce paused, considering that. Blake lashed out, but he blocked it. "She is a big part of the reason."

"Okay then." Blake stepped back. "You put me in a tight spot with my partner. Babs has convinced herself Batman doesn't approve of her."

"You didn't tell her when you and Lucius gave her a suit?" Bruce followed after him.

Blake swung and the impact stung. "None of us were telling Bruce Wayne was Batman. Babs concluded that you were the money and tech behind Batman and I lied by letting her keep believing that. She found the trackers and plugged herself in, so you saw her when you tagged you and Selina. And she knows you've linked into the Batcomputer, so don't even pretend you haven't." He swung again.

Bruce dodged that one. "And she has been fretting since April. It's two a.m. in Gotham now and she spent Christmas with her father; we'll call later."

"You mean that?" Blake dropped his fist. "Because she will be furious and I can't work the computers like she can."

"I'll take the heat. I deserve it." Bruce stepped back as he heard heavy footsteps. Clark's head poked over the stairwell wall. "Morning, hope we didn't wake you."

His black-haired head shook. "Didn't sleep well, probably from talking about Zod so much." His blue eyes sagged.

Bruce sympathized. He never liked explaining his nightmares either. Selina dragged them out of him, but he doubted he could emulate her technique. "We better go down to breakfast before Alfred decides we don't deserve any." Helena waved her arms, but didn't cry as he picked her up.

"Will any stores be open today?" Clark asked as they headed down. "I'd like to find something Italian for my mom."

"A few will be," Bruce answered, "along with some booths at the holiday market. I don't mind showing you around."

Lois sat at the dining room table with her plate and coffee. "There's the male half of the household," she said.

"And Helena." Bruce set her in the bouncer seat on the table before he turned to the dishes on the sideboard. "Selina's sleeping and Diana likes a morning run to the beach and back when she doesn't have classes."

Blake looked up from the pastries. "Aren't we inland?"

"About fifty miles."

"That's some dedication to jogging," Lois said.

Bruce shrugged as he helped himself to an omelet.

Clark set his plate next to Lois. "We're seeing the city today."

"Didn't see enough of it with Diana's tour of the nativity scenes yesterday?"

"I want to get Mom something from Italy."

She nodded as she nibbled. "The thank you for letting me not come home for Christmas gift. John needs to find something for his partner."

Blake sat down. "That might help my chances."

"Chances at what?" Clark asked. "Are you two together?"

The younger man coughed when he inhaled some orange juice. "It's complicated," he said with a red face. "But right now I need a please don't hurt me because I knew and you didn't guess right present."

Bruce tickled Helena's foot as he sat. "She's superior to you in computer skills and martial arts?"

"She's got a black belt in karate already and is taking classes in Aikido. Me, I'm learning boxing from a guy in Old Gotham named Ted Grant."

"He's still around?" Bruce chuckled. "I hired him to teach me boxing when I was a kid. He knows more than that, even though he likes it best."

"Go have fun," Lois said. "I need to finish the compare and contrast on the federal financial aid between Metropolis and Gotham." Her gaze unfocused and Bruce wondered if she was composing her story right there. Clark's glance at her was fond bemusement, so she probably was.

Alfred confiscated Helena after he cleared the dishes. "I'll watch the little Miss while you entertain your guests."

"We shouldn't be out long." Bruce crept back into his and Selina's bedroom as silent as his training had made him and eased into the dressing room before the adjacent bathroom.

Selina heard him. "Bruce?" She shifted on the mattress. "Helena's okay?"

"She's fine. Alfred has her. I'm taking Blake and Clark shopping." He dropped his sweats into the clothes hamper.

"Boy bonding?" she asked with a yawn.

Bruce pulled on a pair of slacks. "Something like that."

"Don't scare Clark off with your cape theory 101 lecture."

"I know you don't like it." He found a long-sleeved shirt in his wardrobe.

"The only thing I don't like about it is your tendency to turn yourself into two people when you aren't. But he is ready to bolt and you throwing theory and practical applications at him right now will lose you the third person in the prophecy. So save it."

He shoved his feet into his shoes before going into the bedroom. "Why would he be afraid of us?"

"Because the human race has been so kind to him?" She rolled over on the bed. "Be gentle with him."

_Selina is the only one on Earth who believes I have a gentle side,_ Bruce thought as he kissed her. "I will. Later today, I have to call Batgirl."

"Make sure she knows you are no longer an eligible bachelor." She yawned through her glare.

"I will. Go back to sleep." He crept out and met Alfred's look over the half-wall. "I can't sneak up on her any more," he shrugged. Alfred shook his head, so Bruce entered the kitchen and checked on his sleeping daughter. He couldn't resist stroking her fine dark hair.

Clark almost reached the living room when Lois's voice called from the tower. "Smallville, you'll need this." He turned around and returned shrugging on his thick jacket.

"You don't feel the cold?" Bruce asked.

"I feel it, but it doesn't hurt me." Clark chuckled. "I'll never forget the winter I freaked Mom out going out in the snow barefoot. Her name is Martha too."

"I hope your father isn't a Thomas. That would just be odd."

"No, he was named Jonathan."

Blake joined them, and Bruce led them into the historic heart of Florence. The day was brisk but sunny, and the only locals around were the ones hoping for a few more sales from the tourists. A stationary stall drew Blake's attention, but Clark continued onto a leather goods one. He inspected the handbags while Bruce wondered how to phrase the question. "How long has your father been gone?"

"Sixteen years this past May, right before I graduated high school." Clark's blue eyes focused on Bruce through the disguising black-rimmed glasses. "Because I'm not looking for a present for him?"

"That's one clue," Bruce said. "Orphans put out subconscious feelers for others."

"You and Selina?" Clark asked. Bruce nodded. "I wondered why you hadn't invited proud grandparents over for Christmas." Clark reddened as he picked up a dyed blue handbag large enough to hold a laptop computer in it. "Not that it's any of my business if you're estranged from your parents."

Bruce blinked. "You honestly don't know what happened to my parents? You know who I really am." That was surreal after having billionaire orphan after his name for thirty-two years.

"Do you want me to Google it?" Clark picked up a smaller dyed red handbag. 

"They were shot by a mugger right in front of me. I was eight."

Clark gave him a measured look. Bruce met his gaze. He set down the red bag for one about the same size but dyed tan. This one met his approval and the stall attendant wrapped the purchase. Without speaking, they both moved toward the fountain in the center of square free from booths and wandering tourists. "Dad," Clark swallowed hard. "Dad was swept up in a tornado. He refused to let me save him." His free hand curled into a fist. "Too many witnesses on the highway to expose myself to."

"He was afraid of that?" Bruce asked.

"Afraid the government would take me away and cut me into pieces. That's not possible now, much less when I was seventeen, but when I was an infant adapting to Earth…." Clark grimaced. "I understand that fear better now, having met your daughter." Bruce's throat tightened as he thought about anyone hurting Helena. "Too bad I didn't get it when I was a kid. It was so frustrating."

"Wandering around helping people was a better outlet for frustration than mine. Nothing like spending your twenties trying to understand the criminal mind so hard you end up in prison." Bruce smirked. 

"I couldn't stay home and help." Clark sat on a nearby bench. Bruce sat on the other end. "Not the way everyone freaked out over the bus when I was thirteen."

"The bus?" Blake asked behind them.

"The school bus my classmates and I were riding on careened off the bridge into the river. I planned to open the emergency door, but the bus filled with water too fast for the others to get out. So I pushed it up on the bank and rescued Pete who had been pulled out. I swam across the river and ran all the way home, but three different kids had seen me and their parents came to my parents."

Bruce winced. "Did they want to run you out of town?"

"Pete's mother would have named me a saint if she was Catholic. She couldn't understand why my parents wanted to hush up an obvious miracle. Me, I was just confused why God had made me such a freak."

"When I was thirteen," Blake said, "my crisis of faith was why God let my father die."

"So everyone questions God when they hit thirteen?" Clark asked.

"Everyone questions God when they go through trauma," Bruce said. "Regardless of age."

Clark shifted his feet. "I never thought about the bus part as trauma. What happened after, sure, but not the accident."

"If you thought you and the rest were going to die, that's pretty much trauma." Blake propped his foot on the bench.

"What happened after?" Bruce asked.

"They sent me outside while they talked to Pete's mom, but I can hear what I want to. Her going on about how it was a miracle made me uncomfortable, so I stopped listening and went for a hike across the farm. Dad found me for his lecture. 'We talked about this, Clark; you have to keep this side of yourself a secret.' 

I countered with all my teenage righteousness. 'What was I supposed to do? Just let 'em die?'

Dad shook his head. 'No, that's not what I mean. There's more at stake here than just our lives, or the lives of those around us. When the world finds out what you can do, it's going to change everything; our beliefs, our notions of what it means to be human, everything. If you use these gifts of yours, you have to do it secretly or be ready to leave afterwards. Everyone in Smallville knows who you are, Clark. If more people knew about what you can do, they would hurt you out of fear.'

'Why would God make me somebody to fear?'

Dad didn't have a good answer for that, so he showed me what they had hid under the barn back in 1980."

"The ship that brought you here," Bruce said. He had hacked into NORAD and DARPA's files on Superman months ago and remembered the footage of the car-sized spaceship that was instrumental to defeating Zod's forces. 

It was too cold to remain seated, so they ambled back towards the villa. Clark waited until they were clear of the crowd again. "Mom and Dad thought it was a secret NASA program or a foreign government's. But when nobody hunted down the ship, Dad took the command key to a metallurgist at Kansas State. He said what it was made from didn't exist on the periodic table, so not from Earth, and neither was I. In a black cellar, I found out I was the answer to 'are we alone in the universe?'"

"Heavy," Blake said.

"How did you take it?" Bruce asked.

Clark's lips twisted. "Told Dad I didn't want to be that. He said, 'I don't blame you, son. It'd be a huge burden for anyone to bear, but you're not just anyone. And I have to believe that you were sent here for a reason. All these changes that you're going through, one day you're gonna think of them as a blessing. And when that day comes, you're gonna have to make a choice. A choice of whether to stand proud in front of the human race or not.'" Clark sighed. "I know what Jor-El's reasons are and I made my choice, so what happens now?"

"It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you," Bruce said as he opened the electronic gate to the villa.

"And don't over think it," Blake said. Both Clark and Bruce stared at him. "If Gotham City can turn around in our lifetimes from poverty, drugs, and corruption to people leaving thank you cards to Batman, the rest of the planet will come around on Superman too."

"But I don't want people afraid of me," Clark admitted.

"Being seen in daylight helps," Blake said. Bruce led them across the villa's yard, down a set of steps at the base of the tower, and ushered them into the computer room. Blake continued, "It looks like you have nothing to hide, which is probably helped with how candid you've been about everything but the name on your driver's license."

"The government is siccing drones on me." Clark set his shopping bag on a clear desk as he sat.

Blake frowned as he flopped into another one. "Yeah, that's some trust issue stuff unless they feel like Bruce does about tracking implants."

"Just a moment." Bruce hit the intercom button. "Alfred, we're downstairs in the computer room if we're needed."

"All is serene up here, Master Wayne. Lunch is nearly ready."

"Thank you."

"How does Bruce feel about tracking implants?" Clark asked once Bruce's finger left the intercom button.

"Puts them into everyone he can't stand losing," Blake answered. "When does Helena get hers?"

"When she's old enough to get her ears pierced." Bruce shrugged off his coat. "The other model has only been used on adults." He sat in his computer chair.

Clark shook his head. "They think I'll act against America's interests."

"Yeah, I'm not the one to have this conversation with. I'm still pissed off over the government's response to Bane." Blake unzipped his jacket before crossing his arms.

"Sorry, I didn't know how to fly when that happened and I was on the West Coast." Clark grimaced.

"Gentlemen, I propose we keep ourselves above political frays," Bruce said. "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. As flesh and blood, we can be ignored or destroyed, but a symbol is incorruptible, everlasting."

"I talked to Commissioner Gordon about you, well Batman you." Clark's dark eyebrows knitted together. "You wanted people to fear Batman."

"Batman is the product of my embracing my fears and anger and forcing criminals to share my dread. To the good and innocent, he is a symbol of justice." Blake nodded. Bruce continued, "It's not a technique I recommend for everyone. Diana wears her empathy on her breastplate. Nightwing and Batgirl's partnership doesn't put them at odds with the police." He glanced at Clark's slight frown. "You need something else. Fear doesn't work for you."

"We sound like image consultants," Blake said with a chuckle. "You'd look fabulous with a splash of truth." Clark's lips twitched. Blake dropped his teasing tone. "Was it true about your insignia?"

"Jor-El told me it was the Kryptonian symbol for hope as well as the symbol of the House of El." Clark glanced down at his white long-sleeved T-shirt. "I was Jor-El's hope that a better Krypton could be built with the embryos and humans, but that won't happen now."

"Humanity must make better choices than Krypton did." Bruce leaned back and pressed his fingertips together. "Superman is our example and reminder. That has the potential to go very badly."

"I know," Clark said with a sigh. "That's what I don't want to happen."

Blake leaned forward. "Helping with those earthquakes and typhoons has gotta be good for the image."

"I didn't do it for my image."

"Of course not, but it doesn't hurt it."

The door to the tower stairwell unlocked and opened. "Are you subjecting your guests to your random hunger strikes, Master Wayne? Miss Diana has threatened to not leave anything for you three to eat."

"Sorry, Alfred, we got involved in brainstorming." Bruce stood. 

"And what are we plotting?"

"Consulting, not plotting," Blake answered. "Superman wants people to like him."

"That takes time and a steady stream of goodwill. Perhaps some events that don't involve constant peril of someone," Alfred said.

Clark looked perplexed. "What celebrities do? I don't know anything about that."

"No, nothing red carpet, one should always play up strengths in a campaign like this. Thanks to Ms. Lane's and your Superman stories, he is one of the most famous orphans on Earth. That could be put to good use for other orphans in need. The Wayne Foundation could handle the logistics of finding projects that only Superman could handle."

Bruce smirked. "Your abilities would cut down infrastructure construction time."

"Yeah, I'm pretty quick with a hammer." A smile blossomed on Clark's face. They followed Alfred up to the dining room between the tower and the kitchen. Selina sat with her hand propping up her head. Her blurry, brown eyes focused on Blake's shopping bag. "So you found something to bribe your partner with?"

"A handmade journal." He pulled out a leather-bound book. "She likes old-fashioned books and the pages and the cover were both made locally."

"Old-fashioned books?" Selina wrinkled her nose.

"She's big into digital. My second choice was a leather tablet case. Let me put it with my stuff." Blake retreated as Selina yawned. 

Diana set a plate underneath Selina's chin. "You came out to socialize, not to antagonize the boy."

"I was curious."

Bruce avoided getting pulled into a Selina versus Blake debate by offering Alfred help with the drinks. Lois arrived with Clark, carrying her laptop. "You have got to see this." She played a YouTube video maximized to fill the screen and set the laptop down on the table.

The image stabilized into the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and a crowd of people circled it. They swayed as they linked hands and sang nonsense but familiar words that Bruce didn't recognize.

> Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze!  
>  Welcome Christmas, come this way!  
>  Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze!  
>  Welcome Christmas, Christmas Day!

"Are they reenacting the "Welcome Christmas" song from _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_?" Clark asked.

"Yes, they are," Lois said. Selina giggled and hummed along.

"What is a Grinch?" Diana asked.

"We didn't get to that Christmas movie," Bruce explained.

"What, Italy banned it?" Blake asked.

"No, Diana didn't believe how many times _A Christmas Carol_ had been filmed. We watched five of them before I went into labor," Selina explained. 

Bruce sighed. "We'll have to buy a copy, won't we?"

"I'm sure it's online if you'd rather watch it that way." Lois pulled the laptop to her once the video had finished.

"We'll find it on Netflix on the big TV after lunch," Selina offered.

"We can still watch the Christmas films?" Diana bit her bottom lip. "We never finished the list, but I didn't know if we must wait until next Christmas season to start again."

"I think we can extend the season to New Year's. I want to see my favorite Christmas movie." Selina pointed at Bruce. "And you can't run away like you did during _Mickey's Christmas Carol_."

"That was business I couldn't put off." He slipped into the chair beside her. Her cocked eyebrow telegraphed how much she believed him.

Lois stowed the laptop while everyone seated themselves. "Is it _Die Hard_? Your favorite Christmas movie?"

" _Nightmare Before Christmas_ , but _Die Hard_ needs to go on the list."

"What happened to the classics like _It's a Wonderful Life_?" Clark helped himself to some mashed potatoes.

"I couldn't get past the title," Bruce said. Selina's hand found his under the table and squeezed. Clark's head turned to Helena dozing in her bouncer on Selina's right. "Maybe now I can," Bruce admitted.

The movie discussion continued. Lois was a fan of untraditional Christmas movies, which included _Lethal Weapon_ and _Gremlins_. Blake admitted a soft spot for _Santa Claus the Movie_. "The orphans go live at the North Pole. Best movie ever." Clark's picks included _White Christmas_ and _Miracle on 34th Street._

They found two movie versions of _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ listed on Netflix, but both Clark and Selina agreed the live-action was better once you knew the cartoon. Bruce pulled Blake aside while the group surrounded the television set above the fireplace mantle. "We need to call your partner."

Blake nodded as he looked at his wristwatch, set on Gotham time. "She'll be up by now." He followed Bruce back downstairs into the computer room. He shook his head as he pulled out his cell phone. "If her yelling is audible over the speaker it won't ruin the movies down here. Merry Christmas, Babs. Why is Gotham turning into Whoville?" His lips frowned. "I'm out of the country; it can't be my fault." His eyebrows rose. "Yes, I did call Isley a Grinch, but I said it to you and Superman was there, and I didn't organize a flash mob while packing." He listened to her before laughing. "So it's all your fault! Nope, if you share my witty observations with the Commissioner and MCU and someone posts it to Twitter and then it goes viral while I'm out of the country, I'm not responsible. Did anyone get hurt?" Blake's concerned expression eased. "Well, I guess we won't take your Christmas present back then. Your turn." He passed the cell phone to Bruce.

"Hello, Miss Gordon, this is Bruce Wayne."

The young woman inhaled on the other end. "Bullshit," she blurted.

Bruce raised his eyebrows. Not the reaction he had expected. "I faked my death, and that will come to light soon."

"No, no, there is no way you're Batman. I don't blame you for wanting to get out of Gotham, though an obituary was drastic, but there's no way one of the richest men in America was Batman." Doubt crept into her voice. "There's no way."

"Because a hedonistic, womanizing playboy wouldn't put his life on the line for Gotham City?"

She was silent for nearly a minute. "You said it, not me."

"September 16, 2004, Harvey Dent lured your mother along with you and your brother to the remains of the warehouse at 250 52nd Street. He threatened to kill your brother in revenge for your father failing to save Rachel Dawes. He said, 'It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair! You thought we could be decent men, in an indecent time! Well, you were wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance.'" Bruce swallowed hard against the tightness in his throat. "I told him that the Joker chose him to lose everything because he was the best of us. The Joker wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall."

Babs Gordon choked. "None of us have ever told that part to anyone. Oh God, it's really you."

"Breathe, Batgirl." 

She took a huge inhale. "You're not mad at me, are you? I'm doing good and Blake needs me and Dad couldn't stop me so don't even think you can."

Bruce smiled. "Batman was meant to inspire others. I don't want you to stop. You and Blake are doing good work."

"John Blake knew," she said flatly.

"And so does your father. It was more important to stay dead until the League of Shadows was incarcerated. Then General Zod invaded and my daughter was born on the 23rd."

"Your what? I mean, congratulations."

Bruce chuckled. "I'll send birth announcements back with Blake. So don't take it out on him that I didn't leave clear instructions on what to say when someone new volunteered."

"So I'm officially in the club?" And her voice sounded so young.

"Yes, you are," Bruce said. "I'll send you contact information once they let me on a computer again."


	4. Part Four

  


## Part Four

### January 15, 2014

Diana picked her way through the forest between the airstrip and the ocean. Italy shared the same sea, but this secluded Pacific Ocean island reminded her more of home. The balmy wind tugged on her hair as she stepped onto the loose sand. She untied her sandals as she gazed at the bright blue waters. "Why can't we live here?"

Bruce paused in the tree line. "Selina says she's in charge of decorating and living quarters are not being assembled here until she can come and approve." He tucked his hands into his board shorts' pockets. "I think I see him."

She scanned the horizon and saw the plumes of water shooting into the air behind the fast moving object. Clark barreled forward, skimming the surface of the water. "That looks like fun."

Clark shot into the air before he reached the beach and then floated to land gently on the sand. Bruce pushed off a tree and headed toward him. Clark smiled as he gestured down at his blue and red suit. "Am I overdressed?"

She looked at her armor as she reached them. "No, this exercise is to get us accustomed to performing our roles."

"And I'm not part of any exercise between you two powerhouses." Bruce rocked on his heels. "My tips are for blending in better. I'll be back at the hangar working, so don't wreck the island." He waved at them while he sauntered into the forest.

So Bruce decided they would show Clark what the hangar housed, but now they needed to concentrate on martial exercise. "I've been thinking of fighting styles that would best suit you. What do you know about classic wrestling?"

"I've never done it because I can hurt my opponent, but it's where you keep your opponent pinned to the ground, right?"

Diana nodded. "It's easily adaptable to hoisting an opponent into the air as well." 

Clark frowned, but paid attention as she demonstrated the sequence of moves. He replicated them well on his first attempt and stopped his fall into the waves from her tossing him. The sun climbed higher and they grappled in the air. It was safer since they stopped themselves from crashing into the land. Clark was the fastest student Diana had taught. A few hours later when she called a halt, he knew the moves and all the defenses she had used against them.

"Thank you for this." Clark plopped on the sand. "Jor-El said I had to keep testing myself. This qualifies."

"Thank you for not holding back." She waded into the surf. "Bruce is skilled, but I have to hold myself in check."

"Your whole life too?" 

She nodded. "Most of my abilities were given at birth. I'm glad Hermes saved flight for when I was grown. My Amazon sisters would have feared me more."

He looked at the horizon. "I know that feeling."

"There is something you must know that is difficult to bring up." She took a deep breath. "Bruce and Selina were there when Hermes told us of the portent the Moerae had about us."

"A prophecy?"

"Nothing that clear cut, I'm afraid. Heroes must rally behind the saved son of a dead world, the mantle of the bat, and the daughter of Zeus for the good of the entire world. But what fate lies in store for the world, the Moerae did not share."

Clark frowned. "Krypton is destroyed and I was saved from that, so that makes sense."

"We should have said something at Christmas, but we weren't sure how you would have handled it."

"Christmas had enough big shocks." He smiled. "But why didn't you find me after the Battle of Metropolis?"

"Selina," she answered. His forehead furrowed. "She was too pregnant to travel and after she read your biography that Lois wrote, she decided that Bruce and I would 'freak you out' if we went without her. I trust her judgment on people."

His frown eased into a smile. "And Bruce wasn't going to leave Selina."

"Not after the League of Shadows operation, no." She left the water for the dry sand.

"He left her behind for this trip." He stood and brushed the sand off his legs.

"Couldn't be helped with Helena's age and what we have to show you." Diana snagged her sandals before lifting over the treetops. Clark followed her up the long lawn cut around the airstrip. She swooped down to a crack big enough for people in the door. "Bruce? The island is still in one piece."

"Come in," he called. 

Clark followed her inside and stopped as he stared at the black metal tentacle lying across the floor beyond the small airplane. He gasped as his gaze moved to the pieces of the world engine towering over everything else in the hangar. "How did you?" He waved at it.

The computer chair rolled from the workstation set against the wall and Bruce motioned for them to come closer. "I hacked into the military databases after Zod's announcement. We got the plans as they were made. Metropolis had the military converging on it, so we decided to help take down the Kryptonian world engine."

"We just missed each other," Diana said. "The Air Force sent jets to attack it and I had to fly Steve to safety. That's when you destroyed it." She waved her hand at the remains.

Clark followed her hand. "And I flew straight to Metropolis. So you just took it?"

"We didn't want it falling into the wrong hands." Bruce turned back to his computer screens. "So we took the liberty of holding it for you."

"For me?" Clark planted his hands on his hips. 

"It's Kryptonian and you're the last Kryptonian."

"We should have told you at Christmas," Diana said.

Clark knelt and tapped on the tentacle. "I would have needed to see it before believing you. I'm still having trouble believing it." His gaze fell onto the thick black cord snaking from the work station to the round head of the engine. "You're connected to it?"

"You missed the onboard computer when you wrecked it." Bruce scooted closer to the desk. "I've been staying abreast of DARPA, S.T.A.R. Labs, and LexCorp's research on the other artifacts-"

"You hacked them too? Isn't that stealing proprietary data?" Clark folded his arms. Diana chuckled at Bruce's dark look.

"If I was building WayneTech products from it, you'd have a legal argument. Right now, all I've created is an interface that translates the programming."

"You've made progress, if you can talk to the computer," Diana said.

"No, I'm not that far. There are three programs stored in its memory, but I haven't found any command sequences to activate them."

"Activate it? Didn't you see what it did when you hauled it over here?" Clark's eyes widened.

"I chopped off all the dangerous parts," Diana said.

Bruce nodded. "Whatever it is made of is vulnerable to Diana's sword, so we physically separated the components that created the gravity beam." He pointed to the metal parts stacked at the other end of the hangar. "We can't rule out wireless communication, so I was translating the programming language without running them. The command line is an anchor point to figure out what the programs do."

"I wonder if it has one of the things." Clark frowned and followed the computer wire into the metal casing. 

"One of what things?" Bruce followed him to the three-foot-wide crack that divided the metal head. Diana trailed after them.

"I don't know the name for it, but it had a slot for the command key and things turned on." Clark shifted a piece of dangling metal. It shrieked but bent out of his way. "Here it is."

Bruce approached the altar-tall pedestal in front of the unsheathed wall with exposed wiring. "I'll have to verify it, but I think that's what they're calling a command port. How does it work?"

"When I put my command key in it on the scout ship, an AI copy of Jor-El appeared in holographic form. He answered my questions and ran the ship. He did the same for Lois on board the _Black Zero_."

"So half the code is probably on that," Bruce said. "How was it made?"

Clark shrugged. "Jor-El didn't give me details. Kryptonian metal and tied to my DNA and now it's in the Phantom Zone."

"And no others got left behind?" Diana asked.

"Zod's was." Clark's expression darkened like a thundercloud. "I crushed it so he couldn't hurt anyone from the afterlife. The defenses on the scout ship nearly killed Lois."

Diana sighed. Giving Clark back his heritage was supposed to heal, not yet another reminder of everything he had lost. It wasn't right. They had Kryptonian metal in abundance and Clark had his DNA, but they lacked the skills to forge the key. Her eyes widened. There were other sources of knowledge. "Do we have a forge here, Bruce?"

"Didn't install one, sorry; haven't needed to bang metal on an anvil with a hammer. Why?"

"I'll have to make a fire then." She left them at the wreck. It didn't take long to gather deadfall from behind the hangar. She built a campfire on the edge of the tarmac close to the hangar. Bruce and Clark stood in the hangar doorway and watched her. She paid them no mind as she rubbed the sticks together for a flame. 

She began her chant as she fed kindling to the flames. "Polyphrôn Hêphaistos, chreiazómaste th dhmioyrgikóthtά sas. Polymêtis Hêphaistos, chreiazómaste ta talέnta sas. Eylóghse mas, Klytos Hêphaistos." She repeated it while she coaxed the fire to blaze.

The fire flared higher than the fuel allowed, towering over her head as she knelt. Clark and Bruce both ran forward only to stop when the flames coalesced into a human shape. He propped a hammer onto his broad right shoulder. His left arm shifted the thick wooden crutch as he stepped out of the fire, dragging his twisted left foot. "You have roused my curiosity, sister. What weapon do you need?" Hephaestus grinned through his black, curly beard. Soot speckled his face.

She stood gracefully. "The weapons you have forged for me are all that I need. This request is for another."

He spied Bruce and Clark between them and the hangar. "You found your companions of the portent, good."

"Yes, and Superman needs a key forged that is no longer on Earth."

"This is a challenge I haven't had in centuries." His lame foot did not slow his stride to the men. "A key from your dead world?"

"My command key from Krypton," Clark corrected.

"Show me what it is supposed to command."

"This way." Bruce led the way into the hangar. Hephaestus headed straight for the wreckage and Clark and Bruce trotted after him. Diana grinned as she turned to the plane. Her sword's edge might be needed to sever more of the Kryptonian mental. "The key fits into this port and controls the computer programs," Bruce explained as they crowded inside the wreckage. Diana pulled her sheathed sword out of the plane and carried it to the computer workstation.

"And what materials was this key constructed from?" Hephaestus asked.

"It wasn't found on the periodic table," Clark said.

"Neither is this metal." Bruce patted a girder.

"And it was tied to my DNA," Clark added, "but I don't know how."

Hephaestus shooed them back into the hangar. "I deal with the how." He set his hammer on the concrete floor before placing his hand on Clark's shoulder. "Close your eyes and remember the key." Clark closed his eyes and his forehead furrowed as he concentrated. His hands flexed with the memory. "Very good, son of Rao, I have a sense of your key." Hephaestus released Clark's shoulder and picked up the hammer. "Now Diana." He chuckled as she hefted her sword. "You anticipate me. Cut off a hunk of this." He poked the tentacle with his crutch before hopping over it.

She freed her sword and strode to the end of the tentacle. She heaved the broadsword over her head, brought it down, and the black metal cleaved with sparks and melted edges.

Clark picked up the piece and blinked at the severed end. "It really cut it."

"You doubt my craftsmanship?" Hephaestus turned around.

"This is the first time I've seen your craftsmanship, sir."

Hephaestus' black curls under his conical cap bounced with his nod. He turned to the hangar's walls. The air shimmered. A large, waist-high, stone fireplace full of coals and its hood slid out of the corrugated metal wall. The wall behind it shifted to stone that spread around the corner. A rack of hammers and tongs appeared on the other wall. An anvil grew out of the concrete floor a step away from the forge along with a wooden tub of water.

"We have a forge now," Bruce said to Diana. She smiled at him.

Hephaestus stirred the coals. "Perfect. Bring the workpiece here." Clark stepped over the tentacle and joined the god of metalworking. Hephaestus plucked the black metal from Clark's hand with a pair of tongs. "Don't wander. We need your blood."

"That may be a problem," Clark said. The coals fell over the metal and tongs as Hephaestus shoved them deeper into the red and orange glow. "I don't bleed unless you replicate Krypton's environment and that wouldn't be safe for them." Clark jerked his thumb back at Bruce and Diana.

"It is good that you care for your allies' frailties." The coals popped and sparked.

"DNA is found in saliva too," Bruce said. "You do have that readily accessible?" Clark nodded.

"Blood is better." Hephaestus set the glowing white metal on the anvil. He adjusted his stance with the crutch so he held the tongs in his left hand. "Touch the edge of Diana's sword before you spit on this." The hangar echoed the ringing blow.

She stepped closer and the heat caressed her exposed skin. She held the blade out to Clark. Clark shrugged before setting his index finger on the edge. His perplexity vanished as he jerked his hand back. A drop of blood beaded on the metal. "Ow!"

"Bring a few drops over here," Hephaestus said between hammer blows.

Clark stepped to the anvil while Diana wiped the blood from her sword. "So you are vulnerable to magic," she said.

"Or at least vulnerable to magic items." Bruce pulled the first aid kit from the shelf next to the computer monitors.

Clark squeezed three droplets of blood onto the glowing metal. "Do you make razors?"

"Grow a beard." Hephaestus smashed the hammer against the metal again. Clark stepped away from the anvil. Once the metal was in a rough, three-sided shape, Hephaestus plunged into the tub of water. Steam hissed as it coiled around the hangar lights. Hephaestus didn't wait for it to subside before he pulled out the black metal that now had a blue sheen. He set it on the anvil and tapped it with his hammer. The metal split in half with a crack. "There it be. Go on; take what is yours, Superman."

Clark pulled a smooth triangular cylinder out of the metal shards. "Incredible." He turned it over in his hands. Diana realized the same symbol that he wore on his chest was on the end. "It feels right," he said.

"But does it have the programming the other one had?" Bruce handed Clark an alcohol wipe.

"Guess there's only one way to find out." Clark doctored the tiny incision on his finger and then turned to the world engine. Bruce went to his computer monitors. Diana kept her sword out, just in case a new dangerous piece developed. Hephaestus moved to her side.

Clark held his breath before sliding the black shard into the slot. The exposed wires inside the wall lit. She jerked her attention to the tentacle, but it didn't move.

"Why is it--" Bruce interrupted himself to type on the keyboard. 

"What happened?" Clark held his hand over the command port.

"Now there are two programs. One of them got deleted."

"It was the world engine's control program." The speaker, a middle-aged man with gray hair spreading through his brown beard, formed beside the world engine's head. He wore a blue leather robe over the same blue suit Clark wore as Superman. "Krypton's colonies would have survived had we not insisted on turning every planet into another Krypton and instead adapted ourselves to their conditions. It represented too much temptation."

"It represented too much danger," Bruce said as he crossed his arms. "But we could have learned more from the code."

"It works." Hephaestus grinned and patted Diana's shoulder. "That was fun. Let me know when I can help you again, my sister."

"Thank you, my brother," she answered.

"Yes, thank you," Clark echoed as he stepped out of the wreckage. The lame god disappeared with the forge. He moved to face the image of Jor-El. "How did you survive?"

"The _Black Zero_ and this machine were linked long enough to transfer the copy Lois Lane uploaded." Jor-El's gaze drifted over them. "Did she survive? Did you return the _Black Zero_ to the Phantom Zone?"

"Lois is fine; she had an assignment in South Africa." Clark's smile drifted away. "The starship sent the _Black Zero_ to the Phantom Zone before Earth was destroyed."

Jor-El's shoulders released. "Then it is safe."

"Safe for what?" Diana asked.

Jor-El vanished and a woman appeared. She dressed in a light-brown, gauzy dress that billowed over her pregnant belly. The robe over it was brown with golden broken stripes decorating the entire fabric. Her bare arms eased out of the slit sleeves and her loose black hair was wavier than Diana's. "Safe for me," she said. "There is only one emitter array, Kal."

Clark was one blow away from toppling onto the concrete floor. Bruce left his computers to get closer to the tableau. "You're my birth mother," Clark breathed out.

"Yes." Her hands circled her protruding stomach. "I am Lara Lor-Van, wife of Jor-El of the House of El. And you are our son, Kal. How did you grow?"

Clark scratched the back of his neck. "Like every other kid, I guess. Mom said it was hard for me to breathe when I was a baby, but I grew out of that."

"Mom?" Lara's fingers covered her mouth.

"I'm sorry." His shoulders drooped. "That probably hurts, I didn't-"

"No," she shook her head. "Humans raised you as their son. I feared that wouldn't happen." Her hands covered her unborn child again. "Jor-El's plan was the only way to give you a future, Kal. But I feared that the humans would cast you out because of your differences, that they would hurt you."

"I won't lie and say all humans like me." Clark spread his hands. "But good people, farmers, found my starship. They couldn't have children, and I'm their miracle." He blushed.

Her blue eyes watered. "I'm glad I was wrong." She tore her gaze from Clark to see Diana and Bruce. "Who are these people?"

"I'm not the only one on Earth who wants to help people. They're allies."

Diana snorted. "We're friends." Bruce and Clark both looked at her. She raised her eyebrows, daring them to say differently.

"Friends," Bruce said.

"Friends," Clark repeated with a smile.

Polyphron (Ingenious, Inventive) Hephaestus, we need your creativity. Polymetis (Resourceful, Of Many Crafts) Hephaestus, we need your talents. Bless us, Clytus (Renowned, Famed, Glorious) Hephaestus. Return to the story.

* * *

### April 2, 2014

Selina flexed her fingers on the steering wheel as she followed the turn marked by the map on the computer screen. The balmy spring had exploded into bright green everywhere she looked. The cypress trees stretched toward the sky as they bordered the roads and houses and the rich brown section freshly tilled for the new crops contrasted with the lush pastures like a patchwork quilt lay over the rolling hills. Too bad Bruce was stuck in a lawyer's office proving he was alive and couldn't enjoy this drive. But if he had come with them, he'd be too busy stewing about how to stop a potential threat with Diana and Clark both helping out Chile. They must enjoy themselves enough for him too. The dashboard computer beeped at her that the destination of the anomaly was ahead. She braked and raised her sunglasses as she stared out the windshield.

A Caucasian man in a glowing green and black leotard floated in the cloudless blue sky while aiming green energy from his hand at the ground.

"That's something you don't see every day." She parked her BMW convertible behind the mangled pieces of metal next to the field's gate. A gnarled man stood beside it and watched the flier. She lowered the car roof. Helena slept in her car seat so Selina draped a light blanket over it. The man in weathered jeans and work boots had glanced at her arrangements, but the flying man required his full attention.

The green energy from the flier's hand ended in two giant shovels shoving dirt into an impact crater. She stopped next to the scowling man. "{Hello, who is your assistant?}" She gave him the smile that always got her answers from men.

It worked with a harrumph. "{Space man landed in my field and broke my tractor.}" He gestured at the tangled metal. "{Hire him? Bah.}"

She looked at the flier who was smoothing the dirt. "{How did you get him to fix it?}"

"{He offered after I started yelling at him. Luckily, my poor crop wasn't in the ground yet.}"

A point in the alien's favor, Zod's group wouldn't have stopped to make things right for who they landed on. The flier finished smoothing out the dirt and the green energy morphed into a series of linked together plows. He shifted his arm and the plows dug into the ground and headed away perpendicularly from the fence.

The farmer ran through the gate waving his arms over his head. "{No, no, no, you idiot! Stop!}" Selina followed him.

The flier lowered himself to the ground and the plows vanished. The domino mask plastered to his face was green. "What now?" 

The farmer understood the flier's American-accented English and retorted in Italian. "{That's not the way the rows go!}"

The flier threw his head back with a sigh. "I'm a Green Lantern, not a farmer."

"{And I'm a farmer without a tractor thanks to you!}" The older man clenched his fists. "{The way you started will not work with the irrigation system.}" The Green Lantern frowned at the shorter man, and then pointed his right hand back at the field. Selina saw the green energy was coming from a glowing ring on his middle finger. The green energy formed a translucent and glowing tractor. The farmer folded his arms. "{And what am I supposed to do when you go back to outer space and that disappears?}"

"This is the best I can do until I can figure out where I am and if I have anything in my checking account." The Green Lantern waved his left hand at the tractor.

If you ignored the leotard and the green energy ring, he sounded like another lost American tourist. And he was getting the same reaction as any other lost American tourist who had done something stupid. Selina played a hunch. "You're in Italy, a long way from Coast City."

He broke into a grin. "The pretty lady is an American, yes! Do you know the local lingo? I think something is getting lost in translation."

"{Nothing is getting lost,}" the farmer said with a scowl. "{You want to steal my livelihood by destroying my tractor.}"

"I don't have any money, sir," the Green Lantern said through gritted teeth.

Selina retrieved her checkbook from the car. Helena was still asleep. She based the number on what she knew about car prices and offered the check to the farmer. "{Will this help you get a new tractor?}"

The farmer thawed when he saw the amount. "{Miss, no, you are not at fault. I cannot accept it.}"

"{Consider it a loan and pay me back after the harvest. But I need to take the space man to the city and find out why he's here.}"

The farmer nodded as he took the check. "{I will pay you back, Miss Kyle. And you're welcome to this imbecile.}" He folded the check into his pocket and trudged up the dirt road to the farm house.

"You didn't have to pay him off." The Green Lantern scuffed his toe into the dirt as the green tractor pulled back into his ring. "Not that I don't appreciate a rescue from a mysterious and beautiful woman."

She smirked. "Selina Kyle. So what's a Green Lantern and what are you doing here on Earth?"

"I'm a member of the Green Lantern Corps. We're a galactic police force. Just consider me the sheriff for sector 2814." His hands landed on his hips. The green mask didn't have a band that wrapped around the back of his wavy brown hair, but it did white out the color of his eyes. Veins of green energy ran through the leotard, looking like a layer of muscle over his skin. A white circle in the center of his chest had a green circle squashed by two lines inside it, a simple lantern symbol. "I'm from Earth, but unfortunately this isn't a vacation back home. I'm tracking a gang of renegades across the sector. Lost track of them seven months ago and recently came across a clue that said they headed to Earth."

Seven months ago was about the same time as when Clark and Lois found the scout ship. "Your renegades wouldn't happen to be Kryptonians?"

His green mask shifted as his eyebrows rose. "The last ones left since Krypton went boom. Tomar-Re is still upset about that." He shrugged. "But it turns out they're a bunch of criminals that escaped and they've been on a rampage. And they ended up here." She nodded. Green Lantern cocked his head. "Say, once I'm done dealing with them, do you want to take a trip with me to see the storm-opals of Rann?"

Before she had a chance to answer, Helena woke, realized the car wasn't moving, and wailed. Selina turned to the car. "Sorry, I'm still breastfeeding, so no intergalactic travel yet." Helena yanked down the blanket. "Ready for another ride, sweetie?"

The Green Lantern followed her. "I have the worst luck." The green energy formed a mobile of planets over Helena's head. "This cutie pie means that a Mr. Kyle is in the picture." Selina narrowed her eyes and reached for his ring hand. "Oh, this won't hurt her. That's not how it works."

Helena cooed and stretched for Saturn, but it was out of reach. Selina decided it was time to ax his flirting. "I am in a committed relationship with Helena's father, so we won't tell him about your storm-opals of Rann." She opened the driver's side door.

"The jealous type?"

"Let's not find out. Come on, get in." He lifted off the ground and floated to the passenger seat without disturbing the mobile over Helena's head. "He and some friends of ours will want to meet you. We have questions about what happened in Coast City back in 2011."

"You aren't with the government, are you?"

"No, we're the ones who stopped the Kryptonians who decided to mess with Earth." Selina grinned as she closed the roof over their heads. "You're a little late to that rodeo, sheriff."

### The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays, everyone. The next part is an author's note too long for this portion and the fanmix soundtrack.


	5. Author's Note and Series Fanmix Soundtrack

Abelard, I hope you like the Steve Trevor that made it. 

I should explain that. For the longest time, this story only had two scenes after I watched _Man of Steel_ : Wonder Woman and Batman confiscating the world engine wreckage before any Earth government did, missing Superman by minutes, and Lois using Selina as a sounding board for her venting about Zod. (Dude, if you had colonized Mars, you would have won. Wait a while, call Kal-El for a visit, and kill him after he was weakened from Kryptonian environment, easy-peasy.) But two scenes do not a story make, so I put the whole thing aside to simmer.

Then Abelard wanted Steve Trevor and told me so in each story with Diana. The oldest version of his story (crashing onto Themyscira/Paradise Island) I borrowed for Bruce and Selina in _[Signs and Portents: Entwined Fates](http://archiveofourown.org/works/851089)_ , so how could I bring in an Air Force pilot? And that's how you got three airplanes trying to take down the world engine. I did the best I could with the military point of view; if I butchered it horribly, let me know how to fix it.

Not that it comes up in this story at all, but my Diana is bisexual.

So then I was undecided for the longest time how to fix things that _Man of Steel_ didn't cover because the fight scenes went on for far too long. I still didn't work in the scene I wanted in the movie: Lois showing off her gnarly scar to Perry "Did I hallucinate this?" So I consoled myself by mentioning it. And deciding who would act first: Bruce and Diana because they know the prophecy or Clark and Lois because they know of another hero who can fly took more time. Eventually, when I wanted Blake and Babs to interact with Clark, it all worked out.

Metropolis is based geographically on Chicago, which you may or may not have figured out from the description of getting to Smallville and the antipodes point where the world engine went. I never had a problem with DC Comics basing Gotham City and Metropolis on aspects of New York City. Where I thought they did get stupid about it was attempting to put both fictional cities in the same geographical location. "They're twin cities separated by a river," being the most common explanation. And you don't think Batman and Superman would tread on each other's turf MORE if that was really the case? My head canon had them separate more than that and since I really didn't deal with Superman back then, it was enough.

Then Chris Dee wrote [_Riddle Me-Tropolis_](http://catwoman-cattales.com/) for her _Cat-Tales_ series and established that not only is Gotham City actually New York City on the map (with name changes as appropriate) Metropolis is Chicago (with name changes as appropriate). New head canon accepted! And if anyone wants to get snippy about Superman and docks, Great Lakes shipping is a thing. So whenever I have needed to refer to either city in relations to other locations, those are the map coordinates and landmarks described are found in those cities. Coast City is based off New Orleans.

  
  


  


Helena's birthday: So I wrote the first five stories in the _Signs and Portents_ series without a hard timeline beyond making sure the conception, storming the League of Shadows' compound and state of Selina's pregnancy all matched up. When I was working on hard timelines for [_Part of the Night: The One Rule_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/897007/chapters/1732773) and [_TDKR: The Weapon of the Shadows_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1737266/chapters/3707744), I thought that maybe it would help me figure out where to put the _Man of Steel_ events in conjunction with _The Dark Knight Rises_ and that would kick off a plot to string my scenes together. Helena needs a birthday (I already had the scene with her, Hal Jordan, and Selina including the references to the Storm Opals of Rann in mind but no-when to put it really), happily I plug in her conception date plus full term pregnancy and ended up with Christmas. My reaction:  
  


Because when I wrote Selina telling Bruce she'd have to get him a better Christmas present, I had no clue that present would be their kid. None at all!

Speaking of Christmas, it is my tradition to watch _Batman the Animated Series_ ' episode "Christmas with the Joker," mostly to sing "Jingle Bells, Batman smells" along with Mark Hamill. But really the member of the Rogue's Gallery with the big hate on for Christmas would be Poison Ivy because other than poinsettia, it is an entire holiday dedicated to cutting greenery down and bringing it inside. And it's a rare daytime sighting of Nightwing and Batgirl because, hello, most plants thrive in daylight.

Jonathan Kent's Maybe scene: I didn't follow the Superman comics, the Christopher Reeves movies killed the character off fairly quickly, so my first introduction to Jonathan Kent was on _Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman_ played by Eddie Jones. Overall, I enjoyed Kevin Costner's portrayal and stood up for his sacrifice to the tornado so Clark wouldn't expose himself. But the "maybe" line nearly jarred me right out of the movie, but I know he was working with what he had been given. Nope, David S. Goyer as a writer dropped that stink-bomb. Not only does it not work with the core of Clark's character, but what father is going to tell their thirteen year old kid to let people die?! So look, I fixed it, and added the motivation behind Clark's nomad years. The 'Can't I keep pretending to be your son?' moment happened as portrayed in the film; Clark just elected to keep it to himself.

Lara Lor-Van's appearance: _Man of Steel_ is a fatherhood movie. It opened on Father's Day for crying out loud, and Jor and Lara's sending Kal off is still a tearjerker scene for me. And yes, you need Jor's scientific knowledge to end Zod's threat. What I never bought was no Lara on the command key. You had nine months to record whatever the holographic AI program is, damn skippy you should do both parents! So there she is and her fears over what could happen to Kal on Earth have been answered by Clark accepting friendship.

The rest of the Justice League: I know I promised that way back when _Man of Steel_ was still in filming stages I would put the Justice League together in this series, but the muse hasn't come up with anything to tie the rest of the group with these guys. It's not for lack of trying. I brainstormed a great Catwoman and Batman meet Aquaman and Superman story that has nothing to do with the Nolanverse. I also came up with a great way to rewrite the _Dark Knight_ , which I won't do because wow _Part of the Night_ took forever. So I have to conclude that I'm just not a big enough fan of the other members of the Justice League to give them a crossover.

Will the new movies help? Not with their emphasis on Frank Miller as source material. I have decided that I will give them money on _Wonder Woman_ despite expecting them to mess it up in an unbelievable way because we are way overdue for a Wonder Woman movie. I will go see _Aquaman_ because Jason Momoa has got me all excited for a Polynesian inspired Atlantis. And _Suicide Squad_ probably because they have finally found a group that deserves the dark and gritty aesthetic they keep giving the movies. I don't care about any others and this whole story is a repudiation of _Batman v Superman_.


End file.
